Dynamical states of a mobile heat blanket on a thermally convecting fluid.
We experimentally study the dynamical states of a freely moving, floating heat blanket that is coupled with a thermally convecting fluid. This floating boundary modifies the large-scale flow pattern in the bulk and destabilizes the coupled system, leading to spontaneous oscillations. As the moving boundary exceeds a critical size, the system makes a transition from an oscillatory state to a weakly confined state, in which the moving boundary executes only small excursions in response to random bypassing thermal plumes. To explain the observed states and transition, we provide a low-dimensional model that appears to capture the underlying mechanism of this coupled system.
Department of Physics and Center for Soft Matter Research, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
Jin-Qiang
JQ
Zhong
Jun
J
Zhang