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The polymer effect on turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection based on PIV experiments

  • Weihua Cai*
  • , Tongzhou Wei
  • , Xiaojing Tang
  • , Yao Liu
  • , Biao Li
  • , Fengchen Li
  • *Corresponding author for this work
  • School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology
  • Sun Yat-Sen University

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In this paper, we present an experimental study to investigate the polymer effect on the characteristics of heat transport and large-scale circulation (LSC) in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC). Polyethylene oxide (PEO) solution with no shear-thinning behavior was used. The velocity field was obtained by particle image velocimetry and the temperature was measured by thermistors. The results show that Nusselt number decreases with the increasing concentration c in polymer solution case and levels off for c > 200 ppm. For PEO solution cases, the scaling exponents between Nusselt number and Rayleigh number become a little smaller. The maximum value of velocity field shifts to the bulk region in polymer solution cases. Besides, the LSC path length decreases with the increase of PEO solution concentration so as to make the size of LSC become smaller. Therefore, it induces the reduction of heat transport in RBC with polymers.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)214-221
Number of pages8
JournalExperimental Thermal and Fluid Science
Volume103
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Heat transfer
  • Large-scale circulation
  • Polymer
  • Rayleigh-Bénard convection

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