Bounds for Rayleigh-Bénard convection between free-slip boundaries with an imposed heat flux
Author(s)
Fantuzzi, Giovanni
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We prove the first rigorous bound on the heat transfer for three-dimensional Rayleigh-Bénard convection of finite-Prandtl-number fluids between free-slip boundaries with an imposed heat flux. Using the auxiliary functional method with a quadratic functional, which is equivalent to the background method, we prove that the Nusselt number $Nu$ is bounded by $Nu \leq 0.5999 R^{1/3}$ uniformly in the Prandtl number, where $R$ is the Rayleigh number based on the imposed heat flux. In terms of the Rayleigh number based on the mean vertical temperature drop, $Ra$, we obtain $Nu \leq 0.4646 Ra^{1/2}$. The scaling with Rayleigh number is the same as that of bounds obtained with no-slip isothermal, free-slip isothermal, and no-slip fixed flux boundaries, and numerical optimisation of the bound suggests that it cannot be improved within our bounding framework. Contrary to the two-dimensional case, therefore, the $Ra$-dependence of rigorous upper bounds on the heat transfer obtained with the background method for three-dimensional Rayleigh-Bénard convection is insensitive to both the thermal and the velocity boundary conditions.
Date Issued
2018-01-05
Date Acceptance
2017-12-12
Citation
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2018, 837
ISSN
0022-1120
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Fluid Mechanics
Volume
837
Copyright Statement
© 2018 Cambridge University Press
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Grant Number
1864077
Subjects
physics.flu-dyn
Notes
10 pages, 3 figures
Publication Status
Published online
Article Number
R5