scholarly journals Numerical Study of Rotating Thermal Convection on a Hemisphere

Fluids ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 185
Author(s):  
Patrick Fischer ◽  
Charles-Henri Bruneau ◽  
Hamid Kellay

Numerical simulations of rotating two-dimensional turbulent thermal convection on a hemisphere are presented in this paper. Previous experiments on a half soap bubble located on a heated plate have been used for studying thermal convection as well as the effects of rotation on a curved surface. Here, two different methods have been used to produce the rotation of the hemisphere: the classical rotation term added to the velocity equation, and a non-zero azimuthal velocity boundary condition. This latter method is more adapted to the soap bubble experiments. These two methods of forcing the rotation of the hemisphere induce different fluid dynamics. While the first method is classically used for describing rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection experiments, the second method seems to be more adapted for describing rotating flows where a shear layer may be dominant. This is particularly the case where the fluid is not contained in a closed container and the rotation is imposed on only one side of it. Four different diagnostics have been used to compare the two methods: the Nusselt number, the effective computation of the convective heat flux, the velocity and temperature fluctuations root mean square (RMS) generation of vertically aligned vortex tubes (to evaluate the boundary layers) and the energy/enstrophy/temperature spectra/fluxes. We observe that the dynamics of the convective heat flux is strongly inhibited by high rotations for the two different forcing methods. Also, and contrary to classical three-dimensional rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection experiments, almost no significant improvement of the convective heat flux has been observed when adding a rotation term in the velocity equation. However, moderate rotations induced by non-zero velocity boundary conditions induce a significant enhancement of the convective heat flux. This enhancement is closely related to the presence of a shear layer and to the thermal boundary layer just above the equator.

2000 ◽  
Vol 411 ◽  
pp. 39-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURENS E. HOWLE

We investigate the effect of the finite horizontal boundary properties on the critical Rayleigh and wave numbers for controlled Rayleigh–Bénard convection in an infinite horizontal domain. Specifically, we examine boundary thickness, thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity. Our control method is through perturbation of the lower-boundary heat flux. A linear proportional-differential control method uses the local amplitude of a shadowgraph to actively redistribute the lower-boundary heat flux. Realistic boundary conditions for laboratory experiments are selected. Through linear stability analysis we examine, in turn, the important boundary properties and make predictions of the properties necessary for successful control experiments. A surprising finding of this work is that for certain realistic parameter ranges, one may find an isola to time-dependent convection as the primary bifurcation.


Author(s):  
Gary A. Glatzmaier

This chapter presents a model of Rayleigh–Bénard convection. It first describes the fundamental dynamics expected in a fluid that is convectively stable and in one that is convectively unstable, focusing on thermal convection and internal gravity waves. Thermal convection and internal gravity waves are the two basic types of fluid flows within planets and stars that are driven by thermally produced buoyancy forces. The chapter then reviews the equations that govern fluid dynamics based on conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. It also examines the conditions under which the Boussinesq approximation simplifies conservation equations to a form very similar to that of an incompressible fluid. Finally, it discusses the key characteristics of the model of Rayleigh–Bénard convection.


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