The GEOFLOW-experiment on ISS (part III): Bifurcation analysis

Codimension 2 bifurcation of convective patterns in the nonrotating spherical Benard Problem of Boussinesq fluid is studied using center manifold reduction. The aim is to determine, in the GEOFLOW-experiment framework, the physical parameters in order to obtain intermittent-like behaviour dynamics. We compute the critical aspect ratio and Rayleigh number corresponding to the (l, l + 1) mode interaction. In the case of the (2,3) interaction, the existence of heteroclinic cycles are examined versus the Prandtl number. (C) 2003 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.