Date of Award
2024
Document Type
Open Access Master's Report
Degree Name
Master of Science in Physics (MS)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Physics
Advisor 1
Kartik Iyer
Committee Member 1
Raymond Shaw
Committee Member 2
Will Cantrell
Abstract
A two-dimensional (2D) direct numerical simulation (DNS) of Rayleigh-Benard convection (RBC) was performed at Rayleigh number (Ra) = 10^6 and Prandtl number (Pr) = 0.021. The simulation was run using the Boussinesq approximation on a square grid of 5184 spectral elements using Nek5000. The simulation was started from a conductive state, with non-permeable, isothermal horizontal walls and non-permeable, adiabatic vertical walls. After reaching a steady state, where the Nusselt number (Nu) converged to 6.2, the simulation was run for 60 freefall-averaged dimensionless time units. Time-averaged thermal boundary layers on the top and bottom plates were found to consist of ejection, shear, and impact regions, and a large-scale convection pattern developed as the simulation reached a steady state.
Recommended Citation
Downs, Reed, "2D DIRECT NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF LOW-PRANDTL NUMBER RAYLEIGH-BÉNARD CONVECTION", Open Access Master's Report, Michigan Technological University, 2024.