English

Convection in rotating flows with simultaneous imposition of radial and vertical temperature gradients

Fluid Dynamics 2016-11-04 v1

Abstract

Laboratory experiments were conducted to study heat transport characteristics in a nonhomogeneously heated fluid annulus subjected to rotation along the vertical axis (z). The nonhomogeneous heating was obtained by imposing radial and vertical temperature gradient ({\Delta}T). The parameter range for this study was Rayleigh number, Ra=2.43x10^8-3.66x10^8, and Taylor number, Ta=6.45x10^8-27x10^8. The working fluid was water with a Prandtl number, Pr=7. Heat transport was measured for varying rotation rates ({\Omega}) for fixed values of {\Delta}T. The Nusselt number, Nu, plotted as a function of Ta distinctly showed the effect of rotation on heat transport. In general, Nu was found to have a larger value for non-rotating convection. This could mean an interplay of columnar plumes and baroclinic wave in our system as also evident from temperature measurements. Laser based imaging at a single vertical plane also showed evidence of such flow structure.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1611.00807,
  title  = {Convection in rotating flows with simultaneous imposition of radial and vertical temperature gradients},
  author = {Ayan Kumar Banerjee and Siddhesh Tirodkar and Amitabh Bhattacharya and Sridhar Balasubramanian},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1611.00807},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

8 pages, 5 figures, 8th International Symposium on Stratified Flows, San Diego, August 2016