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The wind in confined thermal convection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2001

J. J. NIEMELA ,
L. SKRBEK ,
K. R. SREENIVASAN  and
R. J. DONNELLY
J. J. NIEMELA
Affiliation:
Cryogenic Helium Turbulence Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oregon, OR 97403, USA
L. SKRBEK
Affiliation:
Cryogenic Helium Turbulence Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oregon, OR 97403, USA Low Temperature Laboratory, Institute of Physics ASCR and Charles University, 180 00 Prague, Czech Republic
K. R. SREENIVASAN
Affiliation:
Mason Laboratory, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
R. J. DONNELLY
Affiliation:
Cryogenic Helium Turbulence Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oregon, OR 97403, USA
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Abstract

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A large-scale circulation velocity, often called the ‘wind’, has been observed in turbulent convection in the Rayleigh–Bénard apparatus, which is a closed box with a heated bottom wall. The wind survives even when the dynamical parameter, namely the Rayleigh number, is very large. Over a wide range of time scales greater than its characteristic turnover time, the wind velocity exhibits occasional and irregular reversals without a change in magnitude. We study this feature experimentally in an apparatus of aspect ratio unity, in which the highest attainable Rayleigh number is about 1016. A possible physical explanation is attempted.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 449 , 25 December 2001 , pp. 169 - 178
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press