Title: Double-diffusive convection from a dynamical systems perspective

Speaker: Dr. Chang Liu, University of Connecticut

Abstract: This talk will analyze double-diffusive convection from a dynamical systems perspective. The first part of the talk will focus on the salt-finger regime with hot salty water on top of cold fresh water, which is relevant to the tropical ocean. Staircase-like solutions having, respectively, one, two, and three regions of mixed salinity in the vertical direction are computed, and their stability properties are determined. The second part of this talk will consider the diffusive convection with cold fresh water on top of hot salty water relevant to Polar regions. We will analyze how diffusive convection interacts with shear flow by computing exact coherent structures including steady convection rolls and periodic orbits. Direct numerical simulations show that chaotic states generally visit neighborhoods of these exact coherent structures, and these visits leave an imprint on the flow statistics.