Lagrangian tracer dynamics in a closed cylindrical turbulent convection cell

Abstract

Turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a closed cylindrical cell is studied in the Lagrangian frame of reference with the help of three-dimensional direct numerical simulations. The aspect ratio of the cell Γ is varied between 1 and 12, and the Rayleigh number Ra between 10(7) and 10(9). The Prandtl number Pr is fixed at 0.7. It is found that both the pair dispersion of the Lagrangian tracer particles and the statistics of the acceleration components measured along the particle trajectories depend on the aspect ratio for a fixed Rayleigh number for the parameter range covered in our studies. This suggests that large-scale circulations present in the convection cell affect the Lagrangian dynamics. Our findings are in qualitative agreement with existing Lagrangian laboratory experiments on turbulent convection.