Mesoscale convection at Prandtl numbers as low as 0.001

ORAL

Abstract

Many natural convection flows possess regular patterns at an intermediate range of scales, the mesoscale range. A prominent example is granulation and supergranulation on the surface of the Sun. Here, we study mesoscale convection in the simpler Rayleigh-Bénard setup. Our direct numerical simulation studies are taken to Prandtl numbers as low as 0.001, which is beyond the capabilities of controlled laboratory experiments. We study several properties of the flow. The data show, for example, that the turbulence in the bulk of the convection layer is close to the classical homogeneous and istropic turbulence.

*The work is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the New York University Abu Dhabi Institute.

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Presenters

  • Joerg Schumacher

    • TU Ilmenau

Authors

  • Joerg Schumacher

    • TU Ilmenau

  • Ambrish Pandey

    • New York University Abu Dhabi

  • Dmitry Krasnov

    • Institut für Thermo-und Fluiddynamik, Technische Universität Ilmenau, P.O. Box 100565, D-98684 Ilmenau, Germany
    • TU Ilmenau

  • Katepalli R Sreenivasan

    • New York U.
    • New York University (NYU)
    • NYU, New York, USA
    • Tandon School of Engineering, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Department of Physics, New York University, New York
    • New York University
    • Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Department of Physics and the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York, USA