scholarly journals Rayleigh-Bénard convection at high Rayleigh number and infinite Prandtl number: Asymptotics and numerics

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 113602 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Vynnycky ◽  
Y. Masuda

A recent study by Cross et al . (1980) has described a class of finite-amplitude phase-winding solutions of the problem of two-dimensional Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a shallow fluid layer of aspect ratio 2 L (≫ 1) confined laterally by rigid side-walls. These solutions arise at Rayleigh numbers R = R 0 + O ( L -1 ) where R 0 is the critical Rayleigh number for the corresponding infinite layer. Nonlinear solutions of constant phase exist for Rayleigh numbers R = R 0 + O ( L -2 ) but of these only the two that bifurcate at the lowest value of R are stable to two-dimensional linearized disturbances in this range (Daniels 1978). In the present paper one set of the class of phase-winding solutions is found to be stable to two-dimensional disturbances. For certain values of the Prandtl number of the fluid and for stress-free horizontal boundaries the results predict that to preserve stability there must be a continual readjustment of the roll pattern as the Rayleigh number is raised, with a corresponding increase in wavelength proportional to R - R 0 . These solutions also exhibit hysteresis as the Rayleigh number is raised and lowered. For other values of the Prandtl number the number of rolls remains unchanged as the Rayleigh number is raised, and the wavelength remains close to its critical value. It is proposed that the complete evolution of the flow pattern from a static state must take place on a number of different time scales of which t = O(( R - R 0 ) -1 ) and t = O(( R - R 0 ) -2 ) are the most significant. When t = O(( R - R 0 ) -1 ) the amplitude of convection rises from zero to its steady-state value, but the final lateral positioning of the rolls is only completed on the much longer time scale t = O(( R - R 0 ) -2 ).


Author(s):  
Ojas Satbhai ◽  
Subhransu Roy ◽  
Sudipto Ghosh

Direct numerical simulations for low Prandtl number fluid (Pr = 0.0216) are used to study the steady-state Rayleigh–Bénard convection (RB) in a two-dimensional unit aspect ratio box. The steady-state RB convection is characterized by analyzing the time-averaged temperature-field, and flow field for a wide range of Rayleigh number (2.1 × 105 ⩽ Ra ⩽ 2.1 × 108). It is seen that the time-averaged and space-averaged Nusselt number (Nuh¯) at the hot-wall monotonically increases with the increase in Rayleigh number (Ra) and the results show a power law scaling Nuh¯∝Ra0.2593. The current Nusselt number results are compared with the results available in the literature. The complex flow is analyzed by studying the frequency power spectra of the steady-state signal of the vertical velocity at the midpoint of the box for different Ra and probability density function of dimensionless temperature at various locations along the midline of the box.


2018 ◽  
Vol 837 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Fantuzzi

We prove the first rigorous bound on the heat transfer for three-dimensional Rayleigh–Bénard convection of finite-Prandtl-number fluids between free-slip boundaries with an imposed heat flux. Using the auxiliary functional method with a quadratic functional, which is equivalent to the background method, we prove that the Nusselt number $\mathit{Nu}$ is bounded by $\mathit{Nu}\leqslant 0.5999\mathit{R}^{1/3}$ uniformly in the Prandtl number, where $\mathit{R}$ is the Rayleigh number based on the imposed heat flux. In terms of the Rayleigh number based on the mean vertical temperature drop, $\mathit{Ra}$, we obtain $\mathit{Nu}\leqslant 0.4646\mathit{Ra}^{1/2}$. The scaling with Rayleigh number is the same as that of bounds obtained with no-slip isothermal, free-slip isothermal and no-slip fixed-flux boundaries, and numerical optimisation of the bound suggests that it cannot be improved within our bounding framework. Contrary to the two-dimensional case, therefore, the $\mathit{Ra}$-dependence of rigorous upper bounds on the heat transfer obtained with the background method for three-dimensional Rayleigh–Bénard convection is insensitive to both the thermal and the velocity boundary conditions.


1988 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 451-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. R. Jenkins

The relationship between observations of cellular Rayleigh-Bénard convection using shadowgraphs and theoretical expressions for convection planforms is considered. We determine the shadowgraphs that ought to be observed if the convection is as given by theoretical expressions for roll, square or hexagonal planforms and compare them with actual experiments. Expressions for the planforms derived from linear theory, valid for low supercritical Rayleigh number, produce unambiguous shadowgraphs consisting of cells bounded by bright lines, which correspond to surfaces through which no fluid flows and on which the vertical component of velocity is directed downwards. Dark spots at the centre of cells, indicating regions of hot, rising fluid, are not accounted for by linear theory, but can be produced by adding higher-order terms, predominantly due to the temperature dependence of a material property of the fluid, such as its viscosity.


Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 283
Author(s):  
Laiyun Zheng ◽  
Bingxin Zhao ◽  
Jianqing Yang ◽  
Zhenfu Tian ◽  
Ming Ye

This paper studied the Rayleigh–Bénard convection in binary fluid mixtures with a strong Soret effect (separation ratio ψ = − 0.6 ) in a rectangular container heated uniformly from below. We used a high-accuracy compact finite difference method to solve the hydrodynamic equations used to describe the Rayleigh–Bénard convection. A stable traveling-wave convective state with periodic source defects (PSD-TW) is obtained and its properties are discussed in detail. Our numerical results show that the novel PSD-TW state is maintained by the Eckhaus instability and the difference between the creation and annihilation frequencies of convective rolls at the left and right boundaries of the container. In the range of Rayleigh number in which the PSD-TW state is stable, the period of defect occurrence increases first and then decreases with increasing Rayleigh number. At the upper bound of this range, the system transitions from PSD-TW state to another type of traveling-wave state with aperiodic and more dislocated defects. Moreover, we consider the problem with the Prandtl number P r ranging from 0.1 to 20 and the Lewis number L e from 0.001 to 1, and discuss the stabilities of the PSD-TW states and present the results as phase diagrams.


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