Active control of Rayleigh–Bénard convection

Abstract

We report on stabilizing the unstable no-motion state in a moderate aspect ratio one-dimensional Rayleigh–Bénard convection experiment. A linear proportional control algorithm uses shadowgraphic convection images to determine heat flux perturbations which are applied to the lower boundary by a network of local heaters. We show that simple linear control stabilizes the otherwise unstable no-motion (conduction) state over a substantial range of supercritical Rayleigh numbers.