Experimental investigation of natural convective flows in slowly rotating wide spherical shells

Experimental results are presented on natural convection in a spherical shell of inner and outer radii r1 = 14 mm and r2 = 35 mm, with the inner sphere cooled and the outer sphere heated. The fluids filling the shell are two different silicon oils having Prandtl numbers 39 and 233. Both spheres are fixed together and can be rotated. In the studied regime, both Coriolis and centrifugal forces become significant. For sufficiently small Rayleigh numbers the resulting flow pattern is axisymmetric and steady, consisting of a plume descending from the south pole of the inner sphere, and returning in the equatorial regions. For greater Rayleigh numbers the flow becomes non-axisymmetric, with azimuthal modes m = 2 to 4 arising. We map out the critical Rayleigh number for the onset of these different modes, and consider how they vary with increasingly rapid overall rotation. Detailed flow measurements are done by converting a standard 2D particle image velocimetry system into a scanning quasi-3D PIV system.