Rayleigh-Bénard Convection in a Vertically Oscillated Fluid Layer

We report on the first quantitative observations of convection in a fluid layer driven by both heating from below and vertical sinusoidal oscillation. Just above onset, convection patterns are modulated either harmonically or subharmonically to the drive frequency. Single-frequency patterns exhibit nearly solid-body rotations with harmonic and subharmonic states always rotating in opposite directions. Flows with both harmonic and subharmonic responses are found near a codimension-two point, yielding novel coexisting patterns with symmetries not found in either single-frequency states. Predictions from linear stability analysis of the onset Rayleigh and wave numbers compare well with experiment, and phase boundaries for coexisting patterns track single-frequency marginal stability curves.