Shi-Di Huang

Condensation of Coherent Structures in Turbulent Flows.

Coherent structures are ubiquitous in turbulent flows and play a key role in transport. The most important coherent structures in thermal turbulence are plumes. Despite being the primary heat carriers, the potential of manipulating thermal plumes to transport more heat has been overlooked so far. Unlike some other forms of energy transport, such as electromagnetic or sound waves, heat flow in fluids is generally difficult to manipulate, as it is associated with the random motion of molecules and atoms. Here we report how a simple geometrical confinement can lead to the condensation of elementary plumes. The result is the formation of highly coherent system-sized plumes and the emergence of a new regime of convective thermal turbulence characterized by universal temperature profiles and significantly enhanced heat transfer. It is also found that the universality of the temperature profiles and heat transport originate from the geometrical properties of the coherent structures, i.e., the thermal plumes. Therefore, in contrast to the classical regime, boundary layers in this plume-controlled regime are being controlled, rather than controlling.

Comparative Experimental Study of Fixed Temperature and Fixed Heat Flux Boundary Conditions in Turbulent Thermal Convection.

We report the first experimental study of the influences of the thermal boundary condition on turbulent thermal convection. Two configurations were examined: one had a constant heat flux at the bottom boundary and a constant temperature at the top (CFCT cell); the other had constant temperatures at both boundaries (CTCT cell). In addition to producing different temperature stability in the boundary layers, the differences in the boundary condition lead to rather unexpected changes in the flow dynamics. It is found that, surprisingly, reversals of the large-scale circulation occur more frequently in the CTCT cell than in the CFCT cell, despite the fact that in the former its flow strength is on average 9% larger than that in the latter. Our results not only show which aspects of the thermal boundary condition are important in thermal turbulence, but also reveal that, counterintuitively, the stability of the flow is not directly coupled to its strength.

Laboratory simulation of the geothermal heating effects on ocean overturning circulation

Motivated by a desire to understand the geothermal heating effects on ocean circulation, a large-scale circulation generated and sustained by thermal forcing at the surface subject to a small amount of heating from the bottom boundary is investigated through laboratory experiments, motivated by understanding the geothermal heating effects on ocean circulation. Despite its idealization, our experiments demonstrate that the leading order effect of geothermal heating is to significantly enhance the abyssal overturning, in agreement with the findings in ocean circulation models. Our experiments also demonstrate that geothermal heating cannot influence the poleward heat transport due to the strong stratification in the thermocline. Our study further reveals that the ratio of geothermal-flux-induced turbulent dissipation to the dissipation due to other energies is the key parameter determining the dynamical importance of geothermal heating. This quantity explains why the impact of geothermal heating is sensitive to the deep stratification, the diapycnal mixing and the amount of geothermal flux. Moreover, it is found that this dissipation ratio may be used to understand results from different studies in a consistent way. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.