For decades scientists have used experiments replicating a classic form of heat transfer known as Rayleigh-Benard convection to study the effects of a warmer substance displacing a cooler one. These tightly controlled investigations of fluid dynamics allow scientists to scrutinize the fundamentals of behavior that is ubiquitous but otherwise elusive for study. As a result of using supercomputing to simulate R-B convection, we're discovering previously unknown chaos in fluids.
Color corresponds to temperature, increasing from violet to red.
It's the rough equivalent of heating a covered pan of water, though the experimental arrangement allows for precise control of fluid properties and the temperature gradient between the cylinder top and bottom, in addition to offering a safe view of the heated fluid's surface. The initial parameters and the type of fluid govern which kind of pattern will emerge first, but all the patterns are stable and non-chaotic. Given a constant temperature, they maintain their structure over time. Changing Patterns In 1992, Gunton's team replicated a laboratory experiment in which the expected transition from hexagonal to a parallel-roll state instead produced an unpredicted global spiral. The Gunton effort confirmed the experimental findings, revealing in a two-dimensional image a mesmerizing, stable rotating global spiral.