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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
Rigorous upper limits on the vertical heat transport in two dimensional Rayleigh-B\'enard convection between stress-free isothermal boundaries are derived from the Boussinesq approximation of the Navier-Stokes equations. The Nusselt number Nu is bounded in terms of the Rayleigh number Ra according to $Nu \leq 0.2891 Ra^{5/12}$ uniformly in the Prandtl number Pr. This Nusselt number scaling challenges some theoretical arguments regarding the asymptotic high Rayleigh number heat transport by turbulent convection.
Host: Beth Wingate, CCS-2 , wingate@lanl.gov