Experimental study of turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection using large-scale Tomo-PIV and high density PTV

Abstract

Turbulent thermal convection occurs frequently in nature, e.g. in atmospheric movement, and numerous technical applications such as cabin climatisation. Most thermal convection studies focus on the heat transport which depends on the three-dimensional velocity and temperature fields. However, in experiments the velocity fields are often measured in selected planes. Thus, the complete three-dimensional velocity distribution is usually missing in experimental data.