Transition from regular to irregular thermal wave by coupling of natural convection with rotating flow in Czochralski crystal growth

Experimental results are presented on the oscillatory convection of mercury melts induced by coupling of natural convection with crucible rotation in a Czochralski crystal growing configuration. Regular baroclinic thermal waves are observed at thermal Rossby number, Ro(t)much less than 1. These regular waves give way to irregular waves as Ro(t) increases. The amplitude of temperature fluctuation underneath a fixed disk as a model crystal increases significantly after the transition to the irregular wave. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.