Heat Flux and Wall Shear Stress in Large Aspect-Ratio Turbulent Vertical Convection

Abstract

We present a theoretical analysis of large aspect-ratio turbulent vertical convection that yields two relationships between heat flux and wall shear stress, measured respectively by the Nusselt number ($\text{Nu}$) and shear Reynolds number ($\text{Re}_\tau$), in terms of the Rayleigh ($\text{Ra}$) and Prandtl numbers ($\text{Pr}$): $\text{Re}_\tau^2 \text{Nu} = f(\text{Pr}) \text{Pr}^{-1} \text{Ra}$ in the high-$\text{Ra}$ limit and $\text{Nu} \approx C \text{Pr}^{\varepsilon} \text{Re}_\tau$ with $\varepsilon=1/3$ for $\text{Pr} \gg1$ and $\varepsilon=1$ for $\text{Pr} \ll 1$, where $f(\text{Pr})$ is not a power law of $\text{Pr}$ and $C$ is a constant. These relationships imply $\text{Nu} \approx [C^2f(\text{Pr})]^{1/3} \text{Pr}^{-(1-2\varepsilon)/3} \text{Ra}^{1/3}$ and $\text{Re}_\tau\approx[f(\text{Pr})/C]^{1/3}\text{Pr}^{-(1+\varepsilon)/3}\text{Ra}^{1/3}$ for high $\text{Ra}$.