Rayleigh-Bénard Convection in a Cell with Aspect Ratio of One

Abstract

A large-scale circulation velocity, often called the "wind", has been observed in turbulent convection in the Rayleigh-Benard apparatus with a container of an aspect ratio of unity. Temperature fluctuations measured in different positions inside the container for Rayleigh numbers of the order of 1011 when the flow is fully turbulent, are analyzed with auto and cross correlation. It is found that the trajectory of the mean wind has the shape of one convection cell with the size of the order of the container.

Keywords: thermal convection, convection cells, plumes, mean wind, autocorrelation