Abstract:
Dilute superfluid mixtures bridge the Prandtl number range between liquid metals and water: 0.04<NPr<2. The convective equations of motion for superfluid mixtures are the equations for Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a normal single-component fluid plus additional superfluid terms. We have measured the latter through their effect on the critical Rayleigh number Rc. The corrections can be only a few percent for 1.0<T<2.0 K, implying an accessible Prandtl-number range near onset of at least 0.04<NPr<1.5. © 1990 The American Physical Society.