Effect of the Coriolis Force on Thermal Convection under Microgravity

In contrast to the generally accepted viewpoint, it is shown that the Coriolis force caused by the rotation of an orbital station about Earth and the station centroid can strongly affect natural convection during fluid-flow orbital experiments. Various aspects of this influence are investigated in d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theoretical and computational fluid dynamics 1998-07, Vol.12 (1), p.53-70
Main Authors: Yuferev, V.S., Kolesnikova, E.N., Polovko, Y.A., Sveshnikov, A.M., Zhmakin, A.I.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Convection
Coriolis force
Fluid flow
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Summary:In contrast to the generally accepted viewpoint, it is shown that the Coriolis force caused by the rotation of an orbital station about Earth and the station centroid can strongly affect natural convection during fluid-flow orbital experiments. Various aspects of this influence are investigated in detail. The focus is on the interaction of the Coriolis force and the harmonically oscillating gravity force on the intensity of two-dimensional thermal convection in a rectangular enclosure with rigid walls. It is shown that the dependence of the maximum root-mean-square velocity on the Ekman number or microacceleration frequency has a distinct resonant character. The height of the resonance peak is significantly influenced by the aspect ratio of the enclosure and by the orientation of the microacceleration vector and the angular velocity vector relative to the enclosure and each other. Special attention is given to nonlinear effects caused by the convective terms of the Navier-Stokes equations.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0935-4964
1432-2250
DOI:10.1007/s001620050098