9705410 Bodenschatz This is a renewal project, the aim of which is the experimental and numerical investigation of non-linear, non-equilibrium pattern- forming phenomena in extended dynamical systems. It is proposed to study the thermal convection of pressurized gases confined between two parallel plates, a system which has been a paradigm for a wider class of pattern forming phenomena. In particular the program will focus on the investigation of the following two topics: (1) The continued quantitative study of the bifurcation diagram of inclined layer Rayleigh-Benard convection over a range of Rayleigh numbers and inclination angles. (2) The detailed experimental and numerical investigations of Spatio- temporal chaos in horizontal and inclined situations. Details in the research can be found at www.milou.msc.cornell.edu. %%% This is a renewal project to study locally ordered patterns, many of which abound in nature. Examples are from cloud streets to ripples in the windblown sand. When observing these pattern over time it becomes obvious that they are constantly changing. We call this behavior spatio-temporal chaos. The aim of this research project is the experimental and numerical investigation of spatio-temporal chaos in patterns of thermal convection. When heating a shallow fluid layer at the bottom and cooling it at the top, above a certain temperature difference convection sets in form of convection rolls: hot fluid is rising at the bottom and cold fluid is descending from the top. To realize a system that has many convection rolls we are using pressurized gases. We investigate the pattern evolution by using digital imaging and image processing techniques and also large scale numerical investigations using the latest supercomputer technology. ***
