Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-j7cmm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-09T23:49:27.577Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Nusselt numbers of horizontal convection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2020

Cesar B. Rocha*
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Navid C. Constantinou
Affiliation:
Research School of Earth Sciences and ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, Australian National University, ACT 2601, Australia
Stefan G. Llewellyn Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0411, USA Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0213, USA
William R. Young
Affiliation:
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0213, USA
*
† Email address for correspondence: crocha@whoi.edu

Abstract

In the problem of horizontal convection a non-uniform buoyancy, $b_{s}(x,y)$, is imposed on the top surface of a container and all other surfaces are insulating. Horizontal convection produces a net horizontal flux of buoyancy, $\boldsymbol{J}$, defined by vertically and temporally averaging the interior horizontal flux of buoyancy. We show that $\overline{\boldsymbol{J}\boldsymbol{\cdot }\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}b_{s}}=-\unicode[STIX]{x1D705}\langle |\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}b|^{2}\rangle$; the overbar denotes a space–time average over the top surface, angle brackets denote a volume–time average and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D705}$ is the molecular diffusivity of buoyancy $b$. This connection between $\boldsymbol{J}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D705}\langle |\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}b|^{2}\rangle$ justifies the definition of the horizontal-convective Nusselt number, $Nu$, as the ratio of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D705}\langle |\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}b|^{2}\rangle$ to the corresponding quantity produced by molecular diffusion alone. We discuss the advantages of this definition of $Nu$ over other definitions of horizontal-convective Nusselt number. We investigate transient effects and show that $\unicode[STIX]{x1D705}\langle |\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}b|^{2}\rangle$ equilibrates more rapidly than other global averages, such as the averaged kinetic energy and bottom buoyancy. We show that $\unicode[STIX]{x1D705}\langle |\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}b|^{2}\rangle$ is the volume-averaged rate of Boussinesq entropy production within the enclosure. In statistical steady state, the interior entropy production is balanced by a flux through the top surface. This leads to an equivalent ‘surface Nusselt number’, defined as the surface average of vertical buoyancy flux through the top surface times the imposed surface buoyancy $b_{s}(x,y)$. In experimental situations it is easier to evaluate the surface entropy flux, rather than the volume integral of $|\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}b|^{2}$ demanded by $\unicode[STIX]{x1D705}\langle |\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}b|^{2}\rangle$.

Information

Type
JFM Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
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.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Figure 1. A snapshot of the $b=-0.7964b_{\star }$ surface at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D705}t/h^{2}=0.12$ for a 3-D horizontal-convective flow; colours denote the vertical velocity. This is a no-slip solution with sinusoidal surface buoyancy $b_{s}$ in (2.4); control parameters are $Ra=6.4\times 10^{10}$, $Pr=1$, $A_{x}=4$ and $A_{y}=1$.

Figure 1

Figure 2. Snapshots of (a) streamfunction, calculated from the $y$-averaged velocity ($u$, $w$), and (b) the $y$-averaged buoyancy at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D705}t/h^{2}=0.12$. This is the same solution as that of figure 1. The streamfunction in (a) is defined by the $y$-average of $u$ and $w$. The black contour in (b) is $b=-0.79b_{\star }$, which is close to the bottom buoyancy, defined as the $(x,y,t)$-average of $b$ at $z=0$.

Figure 2

Figure 3. (a) The dashed black curve is the sinusoidal surface buoyancy profile in (2.4) and the solid blue curve is the vertical flux $F(x)$ defined in (3.2). (b) The horizontal flux $J(x)$ defined in (3.1) (the solid blue curve) and the relation (3.14) with $D$ diagnosed from (3.17) (the dashed black curve). This is the same solution as that of figures 1 and 2.

Figure 3

Figure 4. Approach to statistical equilibrium of two cases, one with the no-slip boundary condition (red curves) and the other with free slip (blue curves). Parameters are $Ra=6.4\times 10^{10}$, $Pr=1$, $A_{x}=4$ and $A_{y}=0$ (2-D solutions). The initial condition is $\boldsymbol{u}=0$ and $b=0$. (a) Domain-averaged kinetic energy, scaled with $b_{\star }h$. (b) The ‘instantaneous Nusselt number’, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}/\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{diff}$, with no time-averaging applied to $\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}$. (c) The bottom buoyancy $\bar{b}(z=0)/b_{\star }$.

Figure 4

Figure 5. Rapid statistical equilibration of the Nusselt number of four $Ra=6.4\times 10^{10}$ solutions with the ‘cold-start’ initial condition $b(\boldsymbol{x},t=0)=-0.74b_{\ast }$.

Figure 5

Figure 6. Approach to statistical equilibrium for 2-D free-slip simulations at $Ra=6.4\times 10^{10}$. We show three initial buoyancy conditions $b(x,z,0)=b_{\star }\times (0,-0.74,-0.9)$. (a) Domain-averaged kinetic energy. (b) The Nusselt number $Nu(t)$. (c) The bottom buoyancy $\bar{b}(z=0)/b_{\star }$.

Figure 6

Figure 7. A comparison of the ‘instantaneous Nusselt number’ time series for (a) the 2-D free-slip solution at $Ra=6.4\times 10^{10}$ with initial condition $b(x,z,0)=0$ and (b) the 3-D free-slip solution at $Ra=6.4\times 10^{10}$ with initial condition $b(x,z,0)=-0.74b_{\star }$. In both cases $Pr=1$. Nusselt number $Nu(t)$ is defined via the volume average of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D705}|\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}b|^{2}$, i.e. the second term on the right-hand side of (4.3). The surface Nusselt number, $Nu_{s}(t)$, is defined via the surface average of $b_{s}$ times the flux $\unicode[STIX]{x1D705}b_{z}(x,h,t)$, i.e. the first term on the right-hand side of (4.3). Nusselt number $Nu_{F}(t)$ is defined as in (3.4) without the time average. The time series in (b) is from the solution shown in figures 1 and 2.