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Flow Topology Transition via Global Bifurcation in Thermally Driven Turbulence
Yi-Chao Xie1, Guang-Yu Ding1, Ke-Qing Xia1
1Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.
Abstract:
We report an experimental observation of a flow topology transition via global bifurcation in a turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection. This transition corresponds to a spontaneous symmetry breaking with the flow becomes more turbulent. Simultaneous measurements of the large-scale flow (LSF) structure and the heat transport show that the LSF bifurcates from a high heat transport efficiency quadrupole state to a less symmetric dipole state with a lower heat transport efficiency. In the transition zone, the system switches spontaneously and stochastically between the two long-lived metastable states.
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