A numerical study of turbulence transitions in convective flow

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Abstract
A turbulence representation, consisting of a generalized set of transport equations for the Reynolds stress tensor and the turbulence energy decay rate, is applied to the study of convective heat transport between parallel plates at moderate Rayleigh numbers, 5 × 103 ≤ Ra ≤ 6·4 × 105. A series of heat flux transitions, in good agreement with those observed experimentally, is detect, ed in this study and found to correlate with changes in the turbulence structure. In the order of increasing Rayleigh number these structural changes correspond to: the transition from laminar to turbulent flow, the transition from low to locally high intensity turbulence, the transition to uniformly high intensity turbulence, and the transition from a buoyancy dominated turbulence to a shear dominated turbulence. An analysis is made of the effect of each of these transitions on the mechanism for heat transfer between the plates.

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