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Has the ultimate state of turbulent thermal convection been observed?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2015

L. Skrbek  and
P. Urban
L. Skrbek*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Ke Karlovu 3, 121 16 Prague, Czech Republic
P. Urban
Affiliation:
Institute of Scientific Instruments ASCR, v.v.i., Královopolská 147, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
*
†Email address for correspondence: skrbek@nbox.troja.mff.cuni.cz
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Abstract

An important question in turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection is the scaling of the Nusselt number with the Rayleigh number in the so-called ultimate state, corresponding to asymptotically high Rayleigh numbers. A related but separate question is whether the measurements support the so-called Kraichnan law, according to which the Nusselt number varies as the square root of the Rayleigh number (modulo a logarithmic factor). Although there have been claims that the Kraichnan regime has been observed in laboratory experiments with low aspect ratios, the totality of existing experimental results presents a conflicting picture in the high-Rayleigh-number regime. We analyse the experimental data to show that the claims on the ultimate state leave open an important consideration relating to non-Oberbeck–Boussinesq effects. Thus, the nature of scaling in the ultimate state of Rayleigh–Bénard convection remains open.

JFM classification

Turbulent Flows: Turbulent convection Turbulent Flows: Turbulent Flows
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 785 , 25 December 2015 , pp. 270 - 282
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Copyright
© 2015 Cambridge University Press 

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