| Issue |
EAS Publications Series
Volume 21, 2006
Stellar Fluid Dynamics and Numerical Simulations: From the Sun to Neutron Stars
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 5 - 5 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/eas:2006104 | |
| Published online | 07 June 2006 | |
M. Rieutord and B. Dubrulle (eds)
EAS Publications Series, 21 (2006) 5
An introduction to thermal convection
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, UMR 5572,
CNRS et Université Paul Sabatier, 14 avenue E. Belin, 31400 Toulouse,
France
In this lecture I propose a little tour of thermal convection and its applications in astrophysics. The first part of the lecture is devoted to a qualitative introduction to the convective instability using the Schwarzschild criterion; then, concentrating on the equations governing the fluid motions, I introduce the Boussinesq and anelastic approximations which are so often used in these problems. The following part focuses on the Rayleigh-Bénard model which is worked out in detail up to the Landau equation and the Lorenz strange attractor. Finally, I briefly sketch out some results on turbulent convection and end the lecture with the case of stellar convection.
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2006