Rayleigh-Bénard Convection Rolls

Convective instability and roll pattern formation in a heated fluid layer

The Rayleigh-Bénard problem: a fluid layer heated from below. When the Rayleigh number Ra = gαΔT d³/(νκ) exceeds the critical value Ra_c≈1708, the conductive state becomes unstable and convective rolls appear. Larger Ra produces more chaotic patterns.