Pattern Competition Leads to Chaos

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Abstract
Pattern competition has been studied experimentally in the free surface modes of a circular fluid layer that is forced vertically. Interaction between nearly degenerate modes of different symmetry gives rise to periodic and chaotic fluctuations. The time-dependent mode amplitudes have been measured with digital imaging methods. Many of the observed phenomena can be explained by a low-dimensional coupled oscillator model that is related to the Navier-Stokes equations.