Axisymmetric convection induced by radial and vertical temperature gradients
Abstract
The onset of thermal convection in the form of axisymmetric rolls is considered when a radial temperature gradient is imposed on the lower boundary of a fluid layer in addition to the usual vertical gradient across the layer. The radial gradient is assumed to have a characteristic length scale much larger than the fluid depth. The critical Rayleigh number is predicted for this situation. Superposition of the stream function for the basic flow induced by the radial gradient and that associated with the axisymmetric rolls is found to give a pattern of rolls of alternating size, as has been observed experimentally.
- Publication:
-
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
- Pub Date:
- November 1983
- Bibcode:
- 1983asme.meetS....K
- Keywords:
-
- Axisymmetric Flow;
- Benard Cells;
- Flow Stability;
- Free Convection;
- Temperature Gradients;
- Thermal Boundary Layer;
- Boussinesq Approximation;
- Computational Fluid Dynamics;
- Rayleigh Number;
- Stream Functions (Fluids);
- Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer