Rayleigh-Bénard convection with thermal boundary inhomogeneities

Phys Rev E. 2022 Feb;105(2-2):025108. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.105.025108.

Abstract

Rayleigh-Bénard convection with nonhomogeneous thermal boundaries (sinusoidal temperature patterns set in-phase at the top and bottom plates) is numerically studied in three- and two-dimensional domains. Two spatial convective scales occur: the one due to the self-organized clustering of plumes-which is known to appear in homogeneous conditions-and the scale induced by the boundary heterogeneities. The latter drives the convection patterning, both in 3D and 2D, when the wavelength of the perturbation is comparable with the self-organized one.