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Reorientations of the large-scale flow in turbulent convection in a cube

N. Foroozani1, J. J. Niemela1, V. Armenio2, and K. R. Sreenivasan3

  • 1International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera 11, 34151 Trieste, Italy
  • 2Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Architettura, Università di Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy
  • 3Departments of Physics and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York 10012, USA

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Phys. Rev. E 95, 033107 – Published 10 March, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.95.033107

Abstract

Large-eddy simulations of turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection were conducted for a fluid of Prandtl number Pr=0.7 confined in a cube, for Rayleigh numbers of 106 and 108. The model solves the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations under the Boussinesq approximation, using a dynamic Smagorinsky model with a Lagrangian averaging technique for the subgrid terms. Under fully developed conditions the flow topology is characterized by a large-scale circulation (LSC) developing in a plane containing one of the diagonals of the cell, while two counter-rotating vortices consequently develop in the other diagonal plane, resulting in a strong inflow at the horizontal midplane. This flow structure is not static, with the LSC undergoing nonperiodic reorientations, or switching, between the two diagonal planes; hence, we supplement the observations of the three-dimensional time-averaged flow structures with single point measurements (time series) to shed light on the dynamics of the reorientations. For all observations, this switching results from a lateral rotation of the LSC in which some finite time spent in a transient state where the large-scale circulation is parallel to one set of side walls; there are, importantly, no observations consistent with so-called cessations of the LSC, in which it decays and then reforms in another plane without such a rotation. The average switching rate for the LSC is in excellent agreement with the results of Bai et al. [K. Bai, D. Ji, and E. Brown, Phys. Rev. E 93, 023117 (2016)].

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Phys. Rev. E 95, 033107– Published 10 March, 2017
  • Received 29 July 2016

©2017 American Physical Society

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