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Abstract

To enrich the three-dimensional experimental details of vortex structures in rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection, we established a technique visualizing three-dimensional vortex structures using scanning planar particle image velocimetry. Experiments were performed at fixed Rayleigh number, Ra = 1.0 × 10 7 and different Taylor numbers from T a = 6.0 × 10 6 to 1.0 × 10 8 , corresponding to convective Rossby numbers from 0.1 ≤ Ro ≤ 0.5 at which gradual transition between vortical plumes and convective Taylor columns regime are observed. Stream function distributions calculated from horizontal velocity vector fields visualize the vortex structure formed in the regimes. As quantitative information extracted from the visualized structures, distances between vortices recognized on the distributions show a good agreement with that evaluated by a theory. With the accumulated planar stream function distributions and vertical velocity component calculated from the horizontal velocity vectors, the three-dimensional representations of vortices indicate that quasi-two-dimensional columnar vortices straighten in the vertical direction with increasing T a.