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Thermal boundary condition studies in large aspect ratio Rayleigh–Bénard convection

Käufer, Theo ; Vieweg, Philipp P. ; Schumacher, Jörg and Cierpka, Christian LU (2023) In European Journal of Mechanics, B/Fluids 101. p.283-293
Abstract

We study the influence of thermal boundary conditions on large aspect ratio Rayleigh–Bénard convection by a joint analysis of experimental and numerical data sets for a Prandtl number Pr=7 and Rayleigh numbers Ra=105−106. The spatio-temporal experimental data are obtained by combined Particle Image Velocimetry and Particle Image Thermometry measurements in a cuboid cell filled with water at an aspect ratio Γ=25. In addition, numerical data are generated by Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) in domains with Γ=25 and Γ=60 subject to different idealized thermal boundary conditions. Our experimental data show an increased characteristic horizontal extension scale λ̃ of the flow structures for increasing Ra, which due... (More)

We study the influence of thermal boundary conditions on large aspect ratio Rayleigh–Bénard convection by a joint analysis of experimental and numerical data sets for a Prandtl number Pr=7 and Rayleigh numbers Ra=105−106. The spatio-temporal experimental data are obtained by combined Particle Image Velocimetry and Particle Image Thermometry measurements in a cuboid cell filled with water at an aspect ratio Γ=25. In addition, numerical data are generated by Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) in domains with Γ=25 and Γ=60 subject to different idealized thermal boundary conditions. Our experimental data show an increased characteristic horizontal extension scale λ̃ of the flow structures for increasing Ra, which due to an increase of the convective heat transfer also leads to an increase of the Biot number (Bi) at the cooling plate. However, we find the experimental flow structure size to range in any case in between the ones observed for the idealized thermal boundary conditions captured by the simulations: On the one hand, they are larger than in the numerical case with applied uniform temperatures at the plates. On the other hand, they are smaller than in the case of an applied constant heat flux, the latter of which leads to a structure that grows gradually up to the horizontal domain size. We are able to link this observation qualitatively to theoretical predictions for the onset of convection. Furthermore, we study the effect of the asymmetric boundary conditions on the heat transfer. Contrasting experimental and numerical data reveals an increased probability of far-tail events of reversed heat transfer. The successive decomposition of the local Nusselt number Nuloc traces this effect back to the sign of the temperature deviation Θ̃, eventually revealing asymmetries of the heating and cooling plate on the thermal variance of the generated thermal plumes.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Convective heat transfer, Direct numerical simulation, Experiment, Rayleigh–Bénard convection, Thermal boundary conditions, Turbulent superstructures
in
European Journal of Mechanics, B/Fluids
volume
101
pages
11 pages
publisher
Elsevier Masson SAS
external identifiers
  • scopus:85164213096
ISSN
0997-7546
DOI
10.1016/j.euromechflu.2023.06.003
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ac80d4e5-275f-4866-b0f6-565fcc84029c
date added to LUP
2023-09-04 12:16:54
date last changed
2023-12-18 14:50:07
@article{ac80d4e5-275f-4866-b0f6-565fcc84029c,
  abstract     = {{<p>We study the influence of thermal boundary conditions on large aspect ratio Rayleigh–Bénard convection by a joint analysis of experimental and numerical data sets for a Prandtl number Pr=7 and Rayleigh numbers Ra=10<sup>5</sup>−10<sup>6</sup>. The spatio-temporal experimental data are obtained by combined Particle Image Velocimetry and Particle Image Thermometry measurements in a cuboid cell filled with water at an aspect ratio Γ=25. In addition, numerical data are generated by Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) in domains with Γ=25 and Γ=60 subject to different idealized thermal boundary conditions. Our experimental data show an increased characteristic horizontal extension scale λ̃ of the flow structures for increasing Ra, which due to an increase of the convective heat transfer also leads to an increase of the Biot number (Bi) at the cooling plate. However, we find the experimental flow structure size to range in any case in between the ones observed for the idealized thermal boundary conditions captured by the simulations: On the one hand, they are larger than in the numerical case with applied uniform temperatures at the plates. On the other hand, they are smaller than in the case of an applied constant heat flux, the latter of which leads to a structure that grows gradually up to the horizontal domain size. We are able to link this observation qualitatively to theoretical predictions for the onset of convection. Furthermore, we study the effect of the asymmetric boundary conditions on the heat transfer. Contrasting experimental and numerical data reveals an increased probability of far-tail events of reversed heat transfer. The successive decomposition of the local Nusselt number Nu<sub>loc</sub> traces this effect back to the sign of the temperature deviation Θ̃, eventually revealing asymmetries of the heating and cooling plate on the thermal variance of the generated thermal plumes.</p>}},
  author       = {{Käufer, Theo and Vieweg, Philipp P. and Schumacher, Jörg and Cierpka, Christian}},
  issn         = {{0997-7546}},
  keywords     = {{Convective heat transfer; Direct numerical simulation; Experiment; Rayleigh–Bénard convection; Thermal boundary conditions; Turbulent superstructures}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{283--293}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier Masson SAS}},
  series       = {{European Journal of Mechanics, B/Fluids}},
  title        = {{Thermal boundary condition studies in large aspect ratio Rayleigh–Bénard convection}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.euromechflu.2023.06.003}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.euromechflu.2023.06.003}},
  volume       = {{101}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}