Chaos in the thermal convection of a Newtonian fluid with a temperature dependent viscosity

Abstract

The onset of chaotic motion in Newtonian fluid with a temperature dependent viscosity is explored in the context of the Rayleigh-Benard thermal convection setup. Galerkin truncation is used to derive a low-order dynamical system (generalized Lorenz system) from the governing equations which reduces to the classical Lorenz system for a Newtonian fluid with a constant viscosity. The effect of the temperature dependent viscosity on the nonlinear solutions is analyzed by considering projections in the phase-space. Also, time signature of the solutions is investigated. The onset of chaotic motion is also discussed in detail for different values of temperature dependent viscosity in this paper. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Inc.