THE TOROIDAL THERMOSYPHON WITH KNOWN HEAT-FLUX

This paper discusses the behavior of a toroidal thermosyphon with known heat flux around the loop. Criteria are first established for steady state solutions. The transient governing equations are then transformed to an infinite set of ordinary differential equations. The flow velocity, however, can be determined from a set of three equations which decouple from the rest. The existence and stability of the critical points of these equations are examined, and typical numerical solutions for different values of the governing parameters are presented. Chaotic solutions are shown to be possible.