Small-Scale Properties of Turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard Convection

The properties of the structure functions and other small-scale quantities in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection are reviewed, from an experimental, theoretical, and numerical point of view. In particular, we address the question of whether, and if so where in the flow, the so-called Bolgiano-Obukhov scaling exists, i.e., S θ (r) ∼ r 2/5 for the second-order temperature structure function and S u (r) ∼ r 6/5 for the second-order velocity structure function. Apart from the anisotropy and inhomogeneity of the flow, insufficiently high Rayleigh numbers, and intermittency corrections (which all hinder the identification of such a potential regime), there are also reasons, as a matter of principle, why such a…

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  Chinese University of Hong Kong