Author(s)

Y. Wei, H. Dou

Abstract

The existing scaling laws for turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection of air in a differentially heated vertical channel is investigated via the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Based on the arguments of an inner (near-wall) and outer (channel centre) region, the simulation results are found to support a minus one-third power law for the mean temperature in an overlap region. Using the inner and outer temperature profiles, an implicit heat transfer equation is shown. A correction term is non-negligible for the present Ra range when compared with the explicit equations found in this paper. Finally, it is shown that the results of present LBM about the Nusselt number Nu as a function of Rayleigh number are in good agreement with the theoretical values.

Keywords

turbulent, Rayleigh–Bénard convection, scaling, LBM