Bifurcation control of Rayleigh-Benard convection

Abstract

Bifurcation control deals with the modification of the bifurcation characteristics of a parametrized nonlinear system by a judiciously designed control input. In this paper, we investigate the problem of active control of Rayleigh-Benard convection (RBC) via a bifurcation control approach. Active control of Rayleigh-Benard convection is a problem of importance to both theoretical research and industrial applications. Several forms of bifurcation control laws are designed based on the mathematical analysis of the governing partial differential equations for RBC. Simulations as well as experimental studies have been carried out to validate the control designs. A composite bifurcation control law combining a linear control law and a cubic control law is found to be most effective and flexible for this problem.