Preturbulence in a finite-dimensional convection model (Q1077264)

The transition from laminar to turbulent flow may be soft or hard. New types of preturbulence and their mechanisms of occurrence and mutual transformation are described with reference to the example of the Curry system. This system is a low-mode Galerkin approximation of the Rayleigh problem of convection in a horizontal layer heated from below. It generalizes the Lorentz system, being of order 14 rather than three. The Curry system has been chosen not so much because it gives a more realistic approximation of the Rayleigh problem as because of its relative multidimensionality and wider range of bifurcation phenomena.