Model of Electrothermal Convection of a Poorly Conducting Liquid in a Horizontal Capacitor

A five-mode model is used to analyze the electroconvection of a weakly conducting liquid in an alternating electric field of a horizontal capacitor with hard boundaries in the case of instantaneous charge relaxation. The nonlinear regimes of electroconvection are investigated. A pattern diagram is constructed. The quasi-periodic and synchronous oscillation regimes of convection are revealed. It is discovered that, depending on the external field frequency, the transition to chaos occurs either by quasi-periodicity or alternation.