Boundary layers in rotating weakly turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection

Abstract

The effect of rotation on the boundary layers (BLs) in a Rayleigh-Benard (RB) system at a relatively low Rayleigh number, i.e. $Ra = 4\times10^7$, is studied for different Pr by direct numerical simulations and the results are compared with laminar BL theory. In this regime we find a smooth onset of the heat transfer enhancement as function of increasing rotation rate. We study this regime in detail and introduce a model based on the Grossmann-Lohse theory to describe the heat transfer enhancement as function of the rotation rate for this relatively low Ra number regime and weak background rotation $Ro\gtrsim 1$. The smooth onset of heat transfer enhancement observed here is in contrast to the sharp onset observed at larger $Ra \gtrsim 10^8$ by Stevens {\it{et al.}} [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf{103}}, 024503, 2009], although only a small shift in the Ra-Ro-Pr phase space is involved.