Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T21:06:46.734Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Rayleigh–Bénard problem in intermediate bounded domains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

F. Stella
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Meccanica e Aeronautica, Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy
G. Guj
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Meccanica e Aeronautica, Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy
E. Leonardi
Affiliation:
The University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, Australia 2033

Abstract

The stationary instabilities of flow patterns associated with Rayleigh–Bénard convection in a 3 × 1 × 9 rectangular container are extensively investigated by numerical simulation. Two types of spatial instabilities of the base convection rolls are predicted in the transition from steady two-dimensional flow to the unsteady oscillatory regime; these instabilities depend on the Prandtl number. For Pr = 0.71 the soft-roll instability is found at moderate Rayleigh number Ra. The results obtained confirm the importance of this flow pattern as a continuous mechanism for steady transition from one wavenumber to another. For Pr = 15, cross-roll instability is obtained, which at larger Ra leads to bimodal convection. For this value of Pr the soft-roll flow pattern is found at intermediate Ra. At higher Ra a new flow structure in which cross-rolls are superimposed on the soft roll is obtained. The effects of the various flow structures on the heat transfer are given. A quantitative comparison with previous experimental and theoretical findings is also presented and discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1993 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bénard, H. 1900a Les tourbillons cellulaires dans une nappe liquide. Rev. Gén. Sci. Pures Appl. 11, 12611271.Google Scholar
Bénard, H. 1900b Les tourbillons cellulaires dans une nappe liquide. Rev. Gén. Sci. Pures Appl. 11, 13091328.Google Scholar
Bolton, E. W., Busse, F. H. & Clever, R. M. 1983 An antisymmetric oscillatory instability of convection rolls. Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 28, 1399.Google Scholar
Bolton, E. W., Busse, F. H. & Clever, R. M. 1986 Oscillatory instabilities of convection rolls at intermediate Prandtl numbers. J. Fluid Mech. 164, 469485.Google Scholar
Busse, F. H. 1967a On the stability of two-dimensional convection in a layer heated from below. J. Math. Phys. 46, 140150.Google Scholar
Busse, F. H. 1967b Non-stationary finite amplitude convection. J. Fluid Mech. 28, 223239.Google Scholar
Busse, F. H. 1978 Non-linear properties of thermal convection. Rep. Prog. Phys. 41, 19291967.Google Scholar
Busse, F. H. & Clever, R. 1979 Instabilities of convection rolls in a fluid of moderate Prandtl number. J. Fluid Mech. 91, 319335.Google Scholar
Busse, F. H. & Whitehead, J. A. 1971 Instabilities of convection rolls in a high Prandtl number fluid. J. Fluid Mech. 47, 305320.Google Scholar
Clever, R. & Busse, F. H. 1974 Transition to time-dependent convection. J. Fluid Mech. 65, 625645.Google Scholar
Davies-Jones, R. P. 1970 Thermal convection in an infinite channel with no-slip condition. J. Fluid Mech. 44, 695704.Google Scholar
Davis, S. H. 1967 Convection in a box: linear theory. J. Fluid Mech. 30, 465478.Google Scholar
Frick, H., Busse, F. H. & Clever, R. 1983 Steady three-dimensional convection at high Prandtl numbers. J. Fluid Mech. 127, 141153.Google Scholar
Guj, G. & Stella, F. 1988 Numerical solution of high-Re recirculating flows in vorticity-velocity form. Intl J. Numer. Meth. Fluids 8, 405416.Google Scholar
Guj, G. & Stella, F. 1993 A vorticity–velocity method for the numerical solution of 3D incompressible flows. J. Comput. Phys. 106, 286298.Google Scholar
Joseph, D. D. 1976 Stability of Fluid Motion, vol. 1, Springer.
Kennedy, J. & Gani, R. 1987 Effect of aspect ratio on natural convection in rectangular enclosures. In Second Workshop on Natural Convection in Enclosures, pp. 3235. University of New South Wales.
Kessler, R. 1987 Nonlinear transition in three-dimensional convection. J. Fluid Mech. 174, 357379.Google Scholar
Kirchartz, K. & Oertel, H. 1988 Three-dimensional thermal cellular convection in rectangular boxes. J. Fluid Mech. 192, 249286.Google Scholar
Kolodner, P., Walden, R., Passner, A., Surko, C. 1986 Rayleigh–Bénard convection in an intermediate-aspect-ratio rectangular container. J. Fluid Mech. 163, 195226.Google Scholar
Krishnamurti, R. 1970 On the transition to turbulent convection. Part 2. The transition to time-dependent flow. J. Fluid Mech. 42, 309320.Google Scholar
Landau, L. D. & Lifshitz, E. M. 1975 Fluid Mechanics, 6th edn. Pergamon.
Mallinson, G. & de Vahl Davis, G. 1973 The method of the false transient for the solution of coupled elliptic equations. J. Comput. Phys. 12, 435461.Google Scholar
Mallinson, G. & de Vahl Davis, G. 1977 Three dimensional natural convection in a box: a numerical study. J. Fluid Mech. 83, 131.Google Scholar
Maurer, J. & Libchaber, A. 1979 Rayleigh–Bénard experiment in liquid helium; frequency locking and the onset of turbulence. J. Phys. Lett. Paris 41, L515-L518.Google Scholar
Motsay, R. W., Anderson, K. E. & Behringer, R. P. 1988 The onset of convection and turbulence in rectangular layers of normal liquid He. J. Fluid Mech. 189, 263286.Google Scholar
Rayleigh, Lord 1916 On convective currents in a horizontal layer of fluid when the higher temperature is on the underside. Phil. Mag. 32, 529546.Google Scholar
Samarskii, A. & Andreyev, V. 1963 On a high-accuracy difference scheme for elliptic equation with several space variables. USSR Comput. Maths. Math. Phys. 3, 13731382.Google Scholar
Stella, F. 1989 Problema di Rayleigh–Bénard in domini limitati. PhD thesis, Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’.
Stella, F. & Guj, G. 1989 Vorticity–velocity formulation in the computation of flows in multiconnected domains. Intl J. Numer. Meth. Fluids 9, 12851298.Google Scholar
Stella, F., Guj, G., Leonardi, E. & de Vahl Davis, G. 1988 The velocity–vorticity and the vector potential–vorticity formulation in three-dimensional natural convection. Rep. 1988/FMT/4. University of New South Wales ISBN 0156 3068.
Stork, K. & Müller, U. 1972 Convection in a box: experiments. J. Fluid Mech. 54, 599611.Google Scholar