Abstract
The horizontal scale of rotating convection with rigid boundary
conditions is studied.
The range of Rayleigh number concerned is moderate, i.e. large enough
to induce a finite-amplitude convection but small enough so that the
geostrophic processes are significant.On considering an experimental law of the Nusselt number and some
constraints of elemental geostrophic processes, the horizontal scale
of the convection can be estimated. This estimation strongly depends
on the ratio between the thicknesses of the Ekman layer and the
thermal boundary layer, and does not depend monotonically on the
Rayleigh number. This dependency is compatible with the experimental
results of Rossby (1969).The estimated horizontal scale was checked by laboratory experiments.
The horizontal temperature distribution was visualized by thermal
liquid-crystal capsules dispersed in the working fluid. The horizontal
scale was measured by counting vortices. The experimental results
agree fairly well with the estimated scale.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Mechanical Engineering,Mechanics of Materials,Condensed Matter Physics
Cited by
72 articles.
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