Rayleigh-Benard Convection in 2D Yukawa Liquids Under An Extreme Temperature Gradient And External Forcing : A Molecular Dynamics Study

Rayleigh-Benard(RB) convection is a widely studied non-equilibrium system, where a fluid confined between horizontal plates shows the formation of RB convection cells(RBCC) when subjected to an external temperarure gradient, ∇T and gravity, g. Formation of such RBCC has recently been observed in strongly coupled Yukawa liquids using 2D molecular dynamics(MD) simulations. Further, the RB system in Yukawa liquids has also been used to perform several interesting numerical experiments such as verification of ECM fluctuation theorem¹, generation of parallel flows from RBCC under particle-level velocity perturbations² and effect of particle mass inhomogeneity on the stability of RBCC³.

In this work, using MD simulations, we study the RB system in 2D Yukawa liquids under extreme values of ∇T between the horizontal plates under dissipative and insulating boundary conditions and demonstrate sensitivity of phenomenon such as flow reversal, onset of turbulence to boundary conditions. We also study the effect of an external driving force acting on the particles at all times(in addition to ∇T, g) on the formation of RBCC. The details of these results will be presented.

1. P Kaur et al, PRE, 100, 053201 (2019)

2. P Kaur et al, Phys Plasmas, 28, 063701 (2021)

3. P Kaur et al, under review (2021)