Propulsion due to thermal streaming

Abstract

We demonstrate that the relative motion of horizontal parallel plates can be generated using patterned heating. This movement is driven by nonlinear thermal streaming associated with a pitchfork bifurcation. The propulsive effect is strongest when all the heating energy is concentrated in a single Fourier mode of the spatial heating pattern; it increases with a decrease in the Prandtl number and increases with the addition of a uniform heating component.