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Turbulent rotating convection at high Rayleigh and Taylor numbers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2010

J. J. NIEMELA*
Affiliation:
International Center for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera 11, 34014 Trieste, Italy
S. BABUIN
Affiliation:
International Center for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera 11, 34014 Trieste, Italy
K. R. SREENIVASAN
Affiliation:
International Center for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera 11, 34014 Trieste, Italy Department of Physics and Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, NY 10012, USA
*
Email address for correspondence: niemela@ictp.it

Abstract

We report heat transport measurements in a cylindrical convection apparatus rotating about the vertical axis. The aspect ratio was 1/2. The working fluid was cryogenic helium gas and the following parameter ranges applied: the Rayleigh number, Ra, varied in the range 1011 < Ra < 4.3 × 1015, the Taylor number, Ta, varied in the range 1011 < Ta < 3 × 1015, the convective Rossby number, Ro, varied in the range 0.4 < Ro < 1.6 and the Prandtl number, Pr, varied in the range 0.7 < Pr < 5.9. Boussinesq conditions applied quite closely. The heat transport for steady rotation, under all conditions of the present experiments, was smaller than that for the non-rotating case. When the rotation rate varied periodically in time, a sharp transition to a state of significantly enhanced heat transport was observed for modulation Taylor numbers Ta* ≳ 1014, where Ta* is based on the peak value of the modulation angular velocity.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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