scholarly journals Scaling in thermal convection: a unifying theory

2000 ◽  
Vol 407 ◽  
pp. 27-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
SIEGFRIED GROSSMANN ◽  
DETLEF LOHSE
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Power Laws ◽  
Thermal Dissipation ◽  
Transition To Turbulence ◽  
Scaling Exponent ◽  
Dynamical Equations ◽  
Convection Roll ◽  
Power Law Exponent ◽  
Kinetic Boundary Layer

A systematic theory for the scaling of the Nusselt number Nu and of the Reynolds number Re in strong Rayleigh–Bénard convection is suggested and shown to be compatible with recent experiments. It assumes a coherent large-scale convection roll (‘wind of turbulence’) and is based on the dynamical equations both in the bulk and in the boundary layers. Several regimes are identified in the Rayleigh number Ra versus Prandtl number Pr phase space, defined by whether the boundary layer or the bulk dominates the global kinetic and thermal dissipation, respectively, and by whether the thermal or the kinetic boundary layer is thicker. The crossover between the regimes is calculated. In the regime which has most frequently been studied in experiment (Ra [lsim ] 1011) the leading terms are Nu ∼ Ra1/4Pr1/8, Re ∼ Ra1/2Pr−3/4 for Pr [lsim ] 1 and Nu ∼ Ra1/4Pr−1/12, Re ∼ Ra1/2Pr−5/6 for Pr [gsim ] 1. In most measurements these laws are modified by additive corrections from the neighbouring regimes so that the impression of a slightly larger (effective) Nu vs. Ra scaling exponent can arise. The most important of the neighbouring regimes towards large Ra are a regime with scaling Nu ∼ Ra1/2Pr1/2, Re ∼ Ra1/2Pr−1/2 for medium Pr (‘Kraichnan regime’), a regime with scaling Nu ∼ Ra1/5Pr1/5, Re ∼ Ra2/5Pr−3/5 for small Pr, a regime with Nu ∼ Ra1/3, Re ∼ Ra4/9Pr−2/3 for larger Pr, and a regime with scaling Nu ∼ Ra3/7Pr−1/7, Re ∼ Ra4/7Pr−6/7 for even larger Pr. In particular, a linear combination of the ¼ and the 1/3 power laws for Nu with Ra, Nu = 0.27Ra1/4 + 0.038Ra1/3 (the prefactors follow from experiment), mimics a 2/7 power-law exponent in a regime as large as ten decades. For very large Ra the laminar shear boundary layer is speculated to break down through the non-normal-nonlinear transition to turbulence and another regime emerges. The theory presented is best summarized in the phase diagram figure 2 and in table 2.

Large-eddy simulation of transition to turbulence in a boundary layer developing spatially over a flat plate

1996 ◽  
Vol 326 ◽  
pp. 1-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
FréDÉRic Ducros, Pierre Comte ◽  
Marcel Lesieur
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Structure Function ◽  
Flat Plate ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Phase Speed ◽  
Transition To Turbulence ◽  
Order Structure ◽  
Spanwise Direction ◽  
Large Eddy

It is well known that subgrid models such as Smagorinsky's cannot be used for the spatially growing simulation of the transition to turbulence of flat-plate boundary layers, unless large-amplitude perturbations are introduced at the upstream boundary: they are over-dissipative, and the flow simulated remains laminar. This is also the case for the structure-function model (SF) of Métais & Lesieur (1992). In the present paper we present a sequel to this model, the filtered-structure-function (FSF) model. It consists of removing the large-scale fluctuations of the field before computing its second-order structure function. Analytical arguments confirm the superiority of the FSF model over the SF model for large-eddy simulations of weakly unstable transitional flows. The FSF model is therefore used for the simulation of a quasi-incompressible (M∞ = 0.5) boundary layer developing spatially over an adiabatic flat plate, with a low level of upstream forcing. With the minimal resolution 650 × 32 × 20 grid points covering a range of streamwise Reynolds numbers Rex1 ε [3.4 × 105, 1.1 × 106], transition is obtained for 80 hours of time-processing on a CRAY 2 (whereas DNS of the whole transition takes about ten times longer). Statistics of the LES are found to be in acceptable agreement with experiments and empirical laws, in the laminar, transitional and turbulent parts of the domain. The dynamics of low-pressure and high-vorticity distributions is examined during transition, with particular emphasis on the neighbourhood of the critical layer (defined here as the height of the fluid travelling at a speed equal to the phase speed of the incoming Tollmien–Schlichting waves). Evidence is given that a subharmonic-type secondary instability grows, followed by a purely spanwise (i.e. time-independent) mode which yields peak-and-valley splitting and transition to turbulence. In the turbulent region, flow visualizations and local instantaneous profiles are provided. They confirm the presence of low- and high-speed streaks at the wall, weak hairpins stretched by the flow and bursting events. It is found that most of the vorticity is produced in the spanwise direction, at the wall, below the high-speed streaks. Isosurfaces of eddy viscosity confirm that the FSF model does not perturb transition much, and acts mostly in the vicinity of the hairpins.

The resonant-triad nonlinear interaction in boundary-layer transition

1987 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 227-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. T. Smith ◽  
P. A. Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Quantitative Agreement ◽  
Finite Amplitude ◽  
Boundary Layer Transition ◽  
Transition To Turbulence ◽  
Layer Transition ◽  
Structured Analysis

Recent controlled experiments by Kachanov & Levchenko (1984) and others indicate that, during some slower kinds of transition to turbulence in boundary layers, three-dimensionality can come into play initially as a resonant-triad phenomenon, depending on the disturbance sizes present. The triad interaction, suggested theoretically in the boundary-layer context by Craik (1971) and others, is studied in the present work by means of multi-structured analysis for high characteristic Reynolds numbers. A finite-amplitude/relatively high-frequency approach leads rationally to the nonlinear triad equations, solutions for which are then obtained analytically and computationally in certain central cases of interest (temporal and spatial). The solutions have a rather chaotic spiky appearance as continual energy exchange develops between the two- and three-dimensional nonlinear modes, whose large-scale response seems governed by inviscid dynamics but subject to important, continual ‘rejuvenation’ from small- (fast-) scale viscous action in-between. The three-dimensional growth rate is thereby increased, but not the two-dimensional. Subsequently the disturbed flow enters a higher-amplitude regime similar to that studied in some related papers by the authors and co-workers. Comparisons with the experiments are very supportive of the theory (in the small and in the large), yielding both qualitative and quantitative agreement.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF FLOW RESPONSE TO STATIONARY DISTURBANCE IN ROTATING-DISK FLOW

2019 ◽  
Vol XVI (2) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ehtisham Siddiqui
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Boundary Layer Flow ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Rotating Disk ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Laboratory Frame ◽  
Transition To Turbulence ◽  
Turbulent Regime ◽  
Mean Velocity ◽  
Layer Flow

Three-dimensional boundary-layer flow is well known for its abrupt and sharp transition from laminar to turbulent regime. The presented study is a first attempt to achieve the target of delaying the natural transition to turbulence. The behaviour of two different shaped and sized stationary disturbances (in the laboratory frame) on the rotating-disk boundary layer flow is investigated. These disturbances are placed at dimensionless radial location (Rf = 340) which lies within the convectively unstable zone over a rotating-disk. Mean velocity profiles were measured using constant-temperature hot-wire anemometry. By careful analysis of experimental data, the instability of these disturbance wakes and its estimated orientation within the boundary-layer were investigated.

scholarly journals Shock-induced heating and transition to turbulence in a hypersonic boundary layer

2020 ◽  
Vol 909 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Fu ◽  
Michael Karp ◽  
Sanjeeb T. Bose ◽  
Parviz Moin ◽  
Javier Urzay
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Transition To Turbulence ◽  
Hypersonic Boundary Layer

Abstract

Large-scale motion in the intermittent region of a turbulent boundary layer

1970 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie S. G. Kovasznay ◽  
Valdis Kibens ◽  
Ron F. Blackwelder
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cross Correlation ◽  
Turbulent Regime ◽  
Conditional Sampling ◽  
Correlation Data ◽  
Measuring Techniques ◽  
Conditional Averaging ◽  
Scale Motion

The outer intermittent region of a fully developed turbulent boundary layer with zero pressure gradient was extensively explored in the hope of shedding some light on the shape and motion of the interface separating the turbulent and non-turbulent regions as well as on the nature of the related large-scale eddies within the turbulent regime. Novel measuring techniques were devised, such as conditional sampling and conditional averaging, and others were turned to new uses, such as reorganizing in map form the space-time auto- and cross-correlation data involving both the U and V velocity components as well as I, the intermittency function. On the basis of the new experimental results, a conceptual model for the development of the interface and for the entrainment of new fluid is proposed.

scholarly journals Growth Rate Exponents of Richtmyer-Meshkov Mixing Layers

2005 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy T. Clark ◽  
Ye Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Mixing Layer ◽  
Power Laws ◽  
Mixing Layers ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Power Law Exponent ◽  
Virtual Time ◽  
Time Origin ◽  
Density Ratios

The Richtmyer-Meshkov mixing layer is initiated by the passing of a shock over an interface between fluid of differing densities. The energy deposited during the shock passage undergoes a relaxation process during which the fluctuational energy in the flow field decays and the spatial gradients of the flow field decrease in time. This late stage of Richtmyer-Meshkov mixing layers is studied from the viewpoint of self-similarity. Analogies with weakly anisotropic turbulence suggest that both the bubble-side and spike-side widths of the mixing layer should evolve as power-laws in time, with the same power-law exponent and virtual time origin for both sides. The analogy also bounds the power-law exponent between 2∕7 and 1∕2. It is then shown that the assumption of identical power-law exponents for bubbles and spikes yields fits that are in good agreement with experiment at modest density ratios.

scholarly journals Free Convective MHD Flow Past a Vertical Cone with Variable Heat and Mass Flux

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Prakash ◽  
S. Gouse Mohiddin ◽  
S. Vijaya Kumar Varma
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Mass Flux ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Convection Boundary Layer ◽  
Vertical Cone ◽  
Local Skin ◽  
Surface Mass ◽  
Flow Past ◽  
Power Law Exponent

A numerical study of buoyancy-driven unsteady natural convection boundary layer flow past a vertical cone embedded in a non-Darcian isotropic porous regime with transverse magnetic field applied normal to the surface is considered. The heat and mass flux at the surface of the cone is modeled as a power law according to qwx=xm and qw*(x)=xm, respectively, where x denotes the coordinate along the slant face of the cone. Both Darcian drag and Forchheimer quadratic porous impedance are incorporated into the two-dimensional viscous flow model. The transient boundary layer equations are then nondimensionalized and solved by the Crank-Nicolson implicit difference method. The velocity, temperature, and concentration fields have been studied for the effect of Grashof number, Darcy number, Forchheimer number, Prandtl number, surface heat flux power-law exponent (m), surface mass flux power-law exponent (n), Schmidt number, buoyancy ratio parameter, and semivertical angle of the cone. Present results for selected variables for the purely fluid regime are compared with the published results and are found to be in excellent agreement. The local skin friction, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number are also analyzed graphically. The study finds important applications in geophysical heat transfer, industrial manufacturing processes, and hybrid solar energy systems.

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