Comparative Experimental Study of Fixed Temperature and Fixed Heat Flux Boundary Conditions in Turbulent Thermal Convection

Shi Di Huang, Fei Wang, Heng Dong Xi, Ke Qing Xia

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Abstract

We report the first experimental study of the influences of the thermal boundary condition on turbulent thermal convection. Two configurations were examined: one had a constant heat flux at the bottom boundary and a constant temperature at the top (CFCT cell); the other had constant temperatures at both boundaries (CTCT cell). In addition to producing different temperature stability in the boundary layers, the differences in the boundary condition lead to rather unexpected changes in the flow dynamics. It is found that, surprisingly, reversals of the large-scale circulation occur more frequently in the CTCT cell than in the CFCT cell, despite the fact that in the former its flow strength is on average 9% larger than that in the latter. Our results not only show which aspects of the thermal boundary condition are important in thermal turbulence, but also reveal that, counterintuitively, the stability of the flow is not directly coupled to its strength.

Original languageEnglish
Article number154502
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume115
Issue number15
DOIs
StatePublished - 5 Oct 2015

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