Production and transport of vorticity in two-dimensional Rayleigh-B\'enard convection cell

TL;DR

This study numerically investigates vorticity production and transport in two-dimensional Rayleigh-Bénard convection, revealing the roles of wall shear, buoyancy, and vortex structures across different aspect ratios and Rayleigh numbers.

Contribution

It introduces an efficient vortex visualization method and analyzes vorticity dynamics, highlighting the relationship between vorticity flux and heat transfer in RB convection.

Findings

Vorticity is produced by wall shear and buoyancy in the bulk.

Main and corner vortices can be visualized via buoyancy-produced vorticity.

Vorticity flux along the wall correlates with the Nusselt number.

Abstract

We present a numerical study of vorticity production and transport in the two-dimensional Rayleigh-B\'enard (RB) convection. Direct numerical simulations are carried out in the Rayleigh number ($Ra$) range $10^{5}\le Ra \le 10^{6}$, the Prandtl number ($Pr$) of 0.71, and the aspect ratio ($\Gamma$) of the convection cell range $0.75\le \Gamma \le 6$. We found that the flow structure and temperature distribution vary with $\Gamma$ greatly due to multiple vortices interaction. Further investigation on the vorticity production and transport reveals that, in the RB convection, in addition to the vorticity production due to wall shear stress, buoyancy produces significant vorticity in the bulk region. The produced vorticity is transported via advection and diffusion. An interesting finding is that the main vortices and the corner vortices can be visualized via the contour of buoyancy-produced vorticity. Although a vigorous definition of the vortex is still lacking in the community, our efficient vortex visualization approach in the RB convection may shed light on further research toward vortex identification. We also found that the spatial distribution of vorticity flux along the wall is positively correlated with that of the Nusselt number ($Nu$), suggesting the amount of vorticity that enters the flow is directly related to the amount of thermal energy that enters the flow.