The progress in our understanding of several aspects of turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection is reviewed. The focus is on the question of how the Nusselt number and the Reynolds number depend on the Rayleigh number Ra and the Prandtl number Pr, and on how the thicknesses of the thermal and the kinetic boundary layers scale with Ra and Pr. Non-Oberbeck-Boussinesq effects and the dynamics of the large scale convection roll are addressed as well. The review ends with a list of challenges for future research on the turbulent Rayleigh-Benard system.

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Heat transfer and large scale dynamics in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection

Coherent structures in wall turbulence transport momentum and provide a means of producing turbulent kinetic energy. Above the viscous wall layer, the hairpin vortex paradigm of Theodorsen coupled with the quasistreamwise vortex paradigm have gained considerable support from multidimensional visualization using particle image velocimetry and direct numerical simulation experiments. Hairpins can autogenerate to form packets that populate a significant fraction of the boundary layer, even at very high Reynolds numbers. The dynamics of packet formation and the ramifications of organization of coherent structures (hairpins or packets) into larger-scale structures are discussed. Evidence for a large-scale mechanism in the outer layer suggests that further organization of packets may occur on scales equal to and larger than the boundary layer thickness.

Hairpin vortex organization in wall turbulencea)

A survey is given of the major developments in three-dimensional velocity field measurements using the tomographic particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The appearance of tomo-PIV dates back seven years from the present review (Elsinga et al 2005a 6th Int. Symp. PIV (Pasadena, CA)) and this approach has rapidly spread as a versatile, robust and accurate technique to investigate three-dimensional flows (Arroyo and Hinsch 2008 Topics in Applied Physics vol 112 ed A Schroder and C E Willert (Berlin: Springer) pp 127–54) and turbulence physics in particular. A considerable number of applications have been achieved over a wide range of flow problems, which requires the current status and capabilities of tomographic PIV to be reviewed. The fundamental aspects of the technique are discussed beginning from hardware considerations for volume illumination, imaging systems, their configurations and system calibration. The data processing aspects are of uppermost importance: image pre-processing, 3D object reconstruction and particle motion analysis are presented with their fundamental aspects along with the most advanced approaches. Reconstruction and cross-correlation algorithms, attaining higher measurement precision, spatial resolution or higher computational efficiency, are also discussed. The exploitation of 3D and time-resolved (4D) tomographic PIV data includes the evaluation of flow field pressure on the basis of the flow governing equation. The discussion also covers a-posteriori error analysis techniques. The most relevant applications of tomo-PIV in fluid mechanics are surveyed, covering experiments in air and water flows. In measurements in flow regimes from low-speed to supersonic, most emphasis is given to the complex 3D organization of turbulent coherent structures.

Tomographic PIV: principles and practice

This article reviews linear instability analysis of flows over or through complex two-dimensional (2D) and 3D geometries. In the three decades since it first appeared in the literature, global instability analysis, based on the solution of the multidimensional eigenvalue and/or initial value problem, is continuously broadening both in scope and in depth. To date it has dealt successfully with a wide range of applications arising in aerospace engineering, physiological flows, food processing, and nuclear-reactor safety. In recent years, nonmodal analysis has complemented the more traditional modal approach and increased knowledge of flow instability physics. Recent highlights delivered by the application of either modal or nonmodal global analysis are briefly discussed. A conscious effort is made to demystify both the tools currently utilized and the jargon employed to describe them, demonstrating the simplicity of the analysis. Hopefully this will provide new impulses for the creation of next-generation algorithms capable of coping with the main open research areas in which step-change progress can be expected by the application of the theory: instability analysis of fully inhomogeneous, 3D flows and control thereof.

Global Linear Instability

A model-based description of the scaling and radial location of turbulent fluctuations in turbulent pipe flow is presented and used to illuminate the scaling behaviour of the very large scale motions. The model is derived by treating the nonlinearity in the perturbation equation (involving the Reynolds stress) as an unknown forcing, yielding a linear relationship between the velocity field response and this nonlinearity. We do not assume small perturbations. We examine propagating helical velocity response modes that are harmonic in the wall-parallel directions and in time, permitting comparison of our results to experimental data. The steady component of the velocity field that varies only in the wall-normal direction is identified as the turbulent mean profile. A singular value decomposition of the resolvent identifies the forcing shape that will lead to the largest velocity response at a given wavenumber–frequency combination. The hypothesis that these forcing shapes lead to response modes that will be dominant in turbulent pipe flow is tested by using physical arguments to constrain the range of wavenumbers and frequencies to those actually observed in experiments. An investigation of the most amplified velocity response at a given wavenumber–frequency combination reveals critical-layer-like behaviour reminiscent of the neutrally stable solutions of the Orr–Sommerfeld equation in linearly unstable flow. Two distinct regions in the flow where the influence of viscosity becomes important can be identified, namely wall layers that scale with R+1/2 and critical layers where the propagation velocity is equal to the local mean velocity, one of which scales with R+2/3 in pipe flow. This framework appears to be consistent with several scaling results in wall turbulence and reveals a mechanism by which the effects of viscosity can extend well beyond the immediate vicinity of the wall. The model reproduces inner scaling of the small scales near the wall and an approach to outer scaling in the flow interior. We use our analysis to make a first prediction that the appropriate scaling velocity for the very large scale motions is the centreline velocity, and show that this is in agreement with experimental results. Lastly, we interpret the wall modes as the motion required to meet the wall boundary condition, identifying the interaction between the critical and wall modes as a potential origin for an interaction between the large and small scales that has been observed in recent literature as an amplitude modulation of the near-wall turbulence by the very large scales.

/pdf/a-critical-layer-framework-for-turbulent-pipe-flow-31bl89j0fy.pdf

A critical-layer framework for turbulent pipe flow

Transition to turbulence in pipe flow is one of the most fundamental and longest-standing problems in fluid dynamics. Stability theory suggests that the flow remains laminar for all flow rates, but in practice pipe flow becomes turbulent even at moderate speeds. This transition drastically affects the transport efficiency of mass, momentum, and heat. On the basis of the recent discovery of unstable traveling waves in computational studies of the Navier-Stokes equations and ideas from dynamical systems theory, a model for the transition process has been suggested. We report experimental observation of these traveling waves in pipe flow, confirming the proposed transition scenario and suggesting that the dynamics associated with these unstable states may indeed capture the nature of fluid turbulence.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/305/5690/1594.full.pdf

Experimental Observation of Nonlinear Traveling Waves in Turbulent Pipe Flow

Three-dimensional travelling wave solutions are found for pressure-driven fluid flow through a circular pipe. They consist of three well-defined flow features – streamwise rolls and streaks which dominate and streamwise-dependent wavy structures. The travelling waves can be classified by the and traceable down to a Reynolds number (based on the mean velocity) of 1251. The new solutions are found using a constructive continuation procedure based upon key physical mechanisms thought generic to wall-bounded shear flows. It is believed that the appearance of these new alternative solutions to the governing equations as the Reynolds number is increased is a necessary precursor to the turbulent transition observed in experiments.

Exact coherent structures in pipe flow: travelling wave solutions

We consider long-time simulations of two-dimensional turbulence body forced by on the torus with the purpose of extracting simple invariant sets or ‘exact recurrent flows’ embedded in this turbulence. Each recurrent flow represents a sustained closed cycle of dynamical processes which underpins the turbulence. These are used to reconstruct the turbulence statistics using periodic orbit theory. The approach is found to be reasonably successful at a low value of the forcing where the flow is close to but not fully in its asymptotic (strongly) turbulent regime. Here, a total of 50 recurrent flows are found with the majority buried in the part of phase space most populated by the turbulence giving rise to a good reproduction of the energy and dissipation p.d.f. However, at higher forcing amplitudes now in the asymptotic turbulent regime, the generated turbulence data set proves insufficiently long to yield enough recurrent flows to make viable predictions. Despite this, the general approach seems promising providing enough simulation data is available since it is open to extensive automation and naturally generates dynamically important exact solutions for the flow.

Invariant recurrent solutions embedded in a turbulent two-dimensional Kolmogorov flow

We present a direct numerical solution of a particular inertial oscillation, the so-called ' spin-over' mode, in spherical geometry. This mode is particularly relevant to the fluid flow within a precessing oblate spheroid. We demonstrate that the oscillatory Ekman layer breaks down at k30" latitude, and that this breakdown spawns internal shear layers. We show that the structure of these shear layers is different for a full sphere and a spherical shell, as noted in the preceding paper (Kerswell 1995). Despite the existence of these shear layers, however, the numerical decay rates agree to within 1 % with the asymptotic decay rates, which neglect any possible shear layers. Finally, we consider the nonlinear mean flow profiles driven by this mode, and demonstrate that our numerical results agree reasonably well with experimental results.

Oscillatory internal shear layers in rotating and precessing flows

The Ekman boundary layer scalings associated with small oscillatory flows in a rapidly rotating system are well known to break down at the critical latitudes. The effect of these anomalous boundary regions on the interior flow has long been an issue of some concern. We argue, using analytical results derived in a model problem based on Stewartson's split-disk configuration, that these boundary regions spawn internal shear layers. These shear layers have their natural length scale of E 1/3 and carry velocities only O(E 1/6 ) smaller than the Rossby number - where E is the Ekman number - if the boundary is concave away from the fluid at the critical latitude. Otherwise, only a weaker shear layer is produced of length scale E 1/5 containing velocities of O(E 3/10 ) smaller than the Rossby number rather than the usual O(E 1/2 ) value for viscous flows in the interior. We show how these layers can carry angular momentum by themselves or more significantly in combination with the interior inviscid flow, so as to influence the mean flow at leading order. These conclusions are then discussed in the context of a precessing oblate spheroid of fluid for which detailed experimental observations are available.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022112095003326

Richard R Kerswell

Papers

Experimental Observation of Nonlinear Traveling Waves in Turbulent Pipe Flow

Exact coherent structures in pipe flow: travelling wave solutions

Invariant recurrent solutions embedded in a turbulent two-dimensional Kolmogorov flow

Oscillatory internal shear layers in rotating and precessing flows

On the internal shear layers spawned by the critical regions in oscillatory Ekman boundary layers