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Natural convection in a differentially heated horizontal cylinder is investigated numerically and analytically. Particular attention is paid to the structure of steady convection, the nature of the tr...
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In the past five years, working largely independently, five groups of researchers have proposed low-dimensional models of the behavior of parallel shear flows at high Reynolds numbers. These models ar...

Non-Boussinesq effect: Thermal convection with broken symmetry

Phys. Fluids 9, 1034 (1997); doi:10.1063/1.869198

Issue Date: April 1997

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Jun Zhang
The Center for Physics and Biology Studies, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10021

Stephen Childress
Courant Institute of Applied Mathematics, New York University, 251 Mercer Street, New York, New York 10012

Albert Libchaber
The Center for Physics and Biology Studies, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10021
We investigate large Rayleigh number (106–109) and large Prandtl number (102–103) thermal convection in glycerol in an aspect ration one cubic cell. The kinematic viscosity of the fluid strongly depends upon the temperature. The symmetry between the top and bottom boundary layers is thus broken, the so-called non-Boussinesq regime. In a previous paper Wu and Libchaber have proposed that in such a state the two thermal boundary layers adjust their length scales so that the mean hot and cold temperature fluctuations are equal in the center of the cell. We confirm this equality. A simplified two-dimensional model for the mean center temperature based on an equation for the thermal boundary layer is presented and compared with the experimental results. The conclusion is that the central temperature adjusts itself so that heat fluxes from boundaries are equal, temperature fluctuations at the center symmetrical, at a cost of very different temperature drops and Rayleigh number for each boundary. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.
History: Received 16 October 1996; accepted 2 December 1996
Permalink: http://link.aip.org/link/?PHFLE6/9/1034/1
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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords
PACS
  • 47.27.Te
    Fluid dynamics Turbulent flows, convection, and heat transfer Convection and heat transfer
  • 47.15.Cb
    Fluid dynamics Laminar flows Laminar boundary layers
  • YEAR: 1996-97

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN:
1070-6631 (print)   1089-7666 (online)
Publisher:
AIP is a member of CrossRef AIP

REFERENCES (14)
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