Space-time correlations in turbulent Rayleigh–Bnard convection

The recent development of the elliptic model(He,et al. Phy. Rev. E, 2006), which predicts that the space-time correlation function Cu(r, τ) in a turbulent flow has a scaling form Cu(rE, 0) with rEbeing a combined space-time separation involving spatial separation r and time delay τ, has stimulated considerable experimental efforts aimed at testing the model in various turbulent flows. In this paper, we review some recent experimental investigations of the space-time correlation function in turbulent Rayleigh–B′enard convection. The experiments conducted at different representative locations in the convection cell confirmed the predictions of the elliptic model for the velocity field and passive scalar field, such as local temperature and shadowgraph images.The understanding of the functional form of Cu(r, τ) has a wide variety of applications in the analysis of experimental and numerical data and in the study of the statistical properties of small-scale turbulence. A few examples are discussed in the review.     

Flow structures of turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection in annular cells with aspect ratio one and larger

Acta Mechanica Sinica - We present an experimental study of flow structures in turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection in annular cells of aspect ratios $$\varGamma =1$$ , 2 and 4, and...     

Rayleigh–Bénard Instability of an Ellis Fluid Saturating a Porous Medium

Transport in Porous Media - The Ellis model describes the apparent viscosity of a shear–thinning fluid with no singularity in the limit of a vanishingly small shear stress. In particular,...     

Rayleigh–Bénard convection driven by a long wavelength heating

Natural convection in a two-dimensional horizontal layer has been investigated. The layer is confined between two parallel horizontal plates. The upper plate is kept isothermal, while the lower plate has an externally imposed, long wavelength, spatially sinusoidal heating with the amplitude expressed in terms of the Rayleigh number Ra and the wavelength characterized by the wave number α. Only steady-state flow structures and their bifurcations have been considered. The detailed analysis has been carried out for two Prandtl numbers, i.e. Pr = 0.7 and Pr = 7, and only small differences in the bifurcation diagrams have been observed. When Ra < Ra _cr = 427, convection has a simple topology consisting of one pair of counter-rotating rolls per heating period. Secondary motion in the form of rolls aligned in the direction of the primary rolls and concentrated around the hot spots occurs for Ra > 427. When 427 < Ra < ～470 and α < ～0.14, the secondary motion is described by the supercritical pitchfork bifurcation. One of the branches of this bifurcation is associated with an odd number of secondary rolls per half wavelength, with rolls above the hot spots rotating in the direction opposite to the primary rolls. The other branch is associated with an even number of secondary rolls per half wavelength, with the rolls above the hot spots co-rotating with the primary rolls. The new rolls are pinched off in pairs when α decreases. When Ra > ～470 and α > ~0.14, bifurcation assumes the form of “bifurcation from infinity”. The main branch is associated with one pair of rolls per heating period for α > 0.25. Decrease in α along this branch results in the formation of secondary rolls, with the rolls at the hot spot co-rotating with the primary rolls. The lower part of the other branch is associated with one pair of rolls per heating period in the limit α → 0. Increase in α results in pinching off a single roll which counter-rotates with respect to the primary roll at the hot spot.     

Numerical and Experimental Study of Rayleigh–Bénard–Kelvin Convection

We performed experimental and numerical studies of combined effects of thermal buoyancy and magnetization force applied on a cubical enclosure of a paramagnetic fluid heated from below and cooled from top. The temperature difference between the hot and cold wall was kept constant. After considering neutral situation (i.e. a pure natural convection case), magnetic fields of different intensity were imposed. The magnetization force produced significant changes in flow (transition from laminar to turbulent regimes), wall-heat transfer (enhancement) and turbulence (turbulence structures reorganization). The strong magnetic field and its gradients were generated by a superconducting magnet which can generate magnetic field up to 10 T and where gradients of the magnetic induction can reach up to 900 T²/m. A good agreement between experiments and numerical simulations was obtained in predicting the integral wall heat transfer over entire range of considered working parameters. Numerical simulations provided a detailed insights into changes of the local wall-heat transfer and long-term time averaged first and second moments for different strengths of the imposed magnetic induction.     

A fourth order accurate finite volume scheme for numerical simulations of turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection in cylindrical containers

A finite volume scheme, which is based on fourth order accurate central differences in spatial directions and on a hybrid explicit/semi-implicit time stepping scheme, was developed to solve the incompressible Navier–Stokes and energy equations on cylindrical staggered grids. This includes a new fourth order accurate discretization of the velocity and temperature fields at the singularity of the cylindrical coordinate system and a new stability condition [J. Appl. Numer. Anal. Comput. Math. 1 (2004) 315–326]. The method was applied in direct numerical simulations of turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection for different Rayleigh numbers $\mathit{Ra}={10}^{\gamma }$, $\gamma =5\text{,}\dots \text{,}8$, in wide cylinders with the aspect ratios $a\equiv H/R=0.2$ and $a=0.4$ (where R denotes the radius and H – the height of the cylinder). To cite this article: O. Shishkina, C. Wagner, C. R. Mecanique 333 (2005).     

Bifurcations and chaos in large-Prandtl number Rayleigh–Bénard convection

Rayleigh–Bénard convection with large-Prandtl number (P) is studied using a low-dimensional model constructed with the energetic modes of pseudospectral direct numerical simulations. A detailed bifurcation analysis of the non-linear response has been carried out for water at room temperature (P=6.8) as the working fluid. This analysis reveals a rich instability and chaos picture: steady rolls, time-periodicity, quasiperiodicity, phase locking, chaos, and crisis. Our low-dimensional model captures the reappearance of ordered states after chaos, as previously observed in experiments and simulations. We also observe multiple coexisting attractors consistent with previous experimental observations for a range of parameter values. The route to chaos in the model occurs through quasiperiodicity and phase locking, and attractor-merging crisis. Flow patterns spatially moving along the periodic direction have also been observed in our model.     

The Response of a Rayleigh–Liénard Oscillator to a Fundamental Resonance

A Rayleigh–Liénard oscillator excited by a fundamentalresonance is investigated by using an asymptotic perturbation method based on Fourier expansion and time rescaling. Two first-order nonlinear ordinarydifferential equations governing the modulation of the amplitude andthe phase of solutions are derived. These equations are used todetermine steady-state responses and their stability. Excitationamplitude-response and frequency-response curves are shown and checkedby numerical integration. Dulac's criterion, the Poincaré–Bendixsontheorem, and energy considerations are used in order to study the existenceand characteristics of limit cycles of the two modulation equations. Alimit cycle corresponds to a modulated motion for the Rayleigh–Liénardoscillator. For small excitation amplitude, the analytical results arein excellent agreement with the numerical solutions. In certain caseswhen the excitation amplitude is very low, an approximate analyticsolution corresponding to a modulated motion can be obtained andnumerically checked. Moreover, if the excitation amplitude is increased,an infinite-period bifurcation occurs because the modulation periodlengthens and becomes infinite, while the modulation amplitude remainsfinite and suddenly the attractor settles down into a periodic motion.     

Weakly Nonlinear Stability Analysis of Temperature/Gravity-Modulated Stationary Rayleigh–Bénard Convection in a Rotating Porous Medium

The effect of time-periodic temperature/gravity modulation on thermal instability in a fluid-saturated rotating porous layer has been investigated by performing a weakly nonlinear stability analysis. The disturbances are expanded in terms of power series of amplitude of convection. The Ginzburg–Landau equation for the stationary mode of convection is obtained and consequently the individual effect of temperature/gravity modulation on heat transport has been investigated. Further, the effect of various parameters on heat transport has been analyzed and depicted graphically.     

Onset of Rayleigh–Bénard convection in cold water near its density maximum in vertical annular containers

A set of three-dimensional numerical simulations of Rayleigh–Bénard convection in cold water near its density maximum in vertical annular containers is performed with the aim of determining the critical Rayleigh number at the onset of convection and the primary flow patterns for different geometric dimensions and density inversion parameters. The Prandtl number of cold water is about 11.57. The annular container is heated from below and cooled from above. The inner and outer sidewalls are considered to be perfectly adiabatic. The results obtained show that the critical Rayleigh number at the onset of convection increases with increase in the density inversion parameter and the radius ratio and with decrease in the aspect ratio. When the radius ratio is small, the flow patterns in vertical annular containers are similar to those in cylindrical containers. At large radius ratios the flow pattern is relatively simple, with several convective rolls observable along the azimuthal direction and similar with those characteristic of Rayleigh–Bénard convection in the Boussinesq fluid. The stratified flow phenomenon is found to exist at moderate values of the density inversion parameter. The results are compared with those obtained in the Boussinesq fluid to reveal the effect of the density inversion parameter.     

Effect of time-periodic vertical oscillations of the Rayleigh–Bénard system on nonlinear convection in viscoelastic liquids

A study of heat transport in Rayleigh–Bénard convection in viscoelastic liquids with/without gravity modulation is made using a most minimal representation of Fourier series and a representation with higher modes. The Oldroyd-B constitutive relation is considered. The resulting non-autonomous Lorenz model (generalized Khayat–Lorenz model of four modes and seven modes) is solved numerically using the adaptive-grid Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg45 method to quantify the heat transport. The effect of gravity modulation is shown to be stabilizing there by leading to a situation of reduced heat transfer. The Deborah number is shown to have an antagonistic influence on convection compared to the stabilizing effect of modulation amplitude and elastic ratio. The results in respect of Maxwell, Rivlin–Ericksen and Newtonian liquids are obtained as particular cases of the present study. A transformation of the momentum equations illustrates the equivalence of present approach and the one due to Khayat that uses normal stresses explicitly.     

Bifurcation Analysis of Parametrically Excited Rayleigh–Liénard Oscillators

A parametrically excited Rayleigh–Liénard oscillator is investigatedby an asymptotic perturbation method based on Fourier expansion and timerescaling. Two coupled equations for the amplitude and the phase ofsolutions are derived and the stability of steady-state periodic solutionsas well as parametric excitation-response and frequency-response curvesare determined. Comparison with the parametrically excited Liénardoscillator is performed and analytic approximate solutions are checkedusing numerical integration. Dulac's criterion, thePoincaré–Bendixson theorem, and energy considerations are used in order to study the existence and characteristics of limit cycles of the twocoupled equations. A limit cycle corresponds to a modulated motion forthe Rayleigh–Liénard oscillator. Modulated motion can be also obtainedfor very low values of the parametric excitation, and in this case, anapproximate analytic solution is easily constructed. If the parametricexcitation is increased, an infinite-period bifurcation is observed because the modulation period lengthens and becomes infinite, while themodulation amplitude remains finite and suddenly the attractor settlesdown into a periodic motion. Floquet's theory is used to evaluatethe stability of the periodic solutions, and in certain cases,symmetry-breaking bifurcations are predicted. Numerical simulationsconfirm this scenario and detect chaos and unbounded motions in theinstability regions of the periodic solutions.     

Average and extremal properties of heat transfer and shear stress on a wall surface in Rayleigh–Bénard convection

In this study surface-averaged and extremal properties of heat transfer and shear stress on the upper wall surface of Rayleigh–Bénard convection are numerically examined. The Prandtl number was raised up to 10³, and the Rayleigh number was changed between 10⁴ and 10⁷. As a result, average Nusselt number Nu and shear rate τ/Pr depends on Pr, Ra, and the entire numerical results are distributed between two correlation equations corresponding to small and large Pr. The small and large Pr equations are closely related to steady and unsteady flow regimes, respectively. Nevertheless, a single relation τ/Pr ~ Nu ^3.0 exists to explain the entire results. Similarly the change of local maximal properties Nu _max and τ _max/Pr depends on Pr, Ra, and these values are also distributed between two correlation equations corresponding to small and large Pr cases. Despite such complicated dependence we can obtain a correlation equation as a form of τ _max/Pr ~ Nu _max^2.6, which has not been obtained theoretically.     

Low-Prandtl-number Bénard–Marangoni convection in a vertical magnetic field

The effect of a homogeneous magnetic field on surface-tension-driven Bénard convection is studied by means of direct numerical simulations. The flow is computed in a rectangular domain with periodic horizontal boundary conditions and the free-slip condition on the bottom wall using a pseudospectral Fourier–Chebyshev discretization. Deformations of the free surface are neglected. Two- and three-dimensional flows are computed for either vanishing or small Prandtl number, which are typical of liquid metals. The main focus of the paper is on a qualitative comparison of the flow states with the non-magnetic case, and on the effects associated with the possible near-cancellation of the nonlinear and pressure terms in the momentum equations for two-dimensional rolls. In the three-dimensional case, the transition from a stationary hexagonal pattern at the onset of convection to three-dimensional time-dependent convection is explored by a series of simulations at zero Prandtl number.     

Effect of Conduction in Bottom Wall on Darcy–Bénard Convection in a Porous Enclosure

Conjugate natural convection-conduction heat transfer in a square porous enclosure with a finite-wall thickness is studied numerically in this article. The bottom wall is heated and the upper wall is cooled while the verticals walls are kept adiabatic. The Darcy model is used in the mathematical formulation for the porous layer and the COMSOL Multiphysics software is applied to solve the dimensionless governing equations. The governing parameters considered are the Rayleigh number (100 ≤ Ra ≤ 1000), the wall to porous thermal conductivity ratio (0.44 ≤ K _r ≤ 9.90) and the ratio of wall thickness to its height (0.02 ≤ D ≤ 0.4). The results are presented to show the effect of these parameters on the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics. It is found that the number of contrarotative cells and the strength circulation of each cell can be controlled by the thickness of the bottom wall, the thermal conductivity ratio and the Rayleigh number. It is also observed that increasing either the Rayleigh number or the thermal conductivity ratio or both, and decreasing the thickness of the bounded wall can increase the average Nusselt number for the porous enclosure.