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Steady axisymmetric creeping plumes above a planar boundary. Part 2. A distributed source

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2006

ROBERT J. WHITTAKER
Affiliation:
Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge, CB3 0WA, UK
JOHN R. LISTER
Affiliation:
Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge, CB3 0WA, UK

Abstract

Asymptotic solutions are obtained for an axisymmetric plume rising from a localized heat source at the base of a half-space filled with very viscous fluid. Specifically, we consider sources comprising a heated disk with either rigid (no-slip) or free-slip (no tangential stress) conditions on the lower boundary. The boundary layer which forms above the source is solved using stretched coordinates, and then matched to a slender plume which rises above it. At large Rayleigh numbers, the Nusselt number is given by $Nu \sim 4.06 Ra^{1/3}(\ln Ra)^{-1/3}$ (free-slip boundary) and $Nu \sim 2.90 Ra^{1/5}$ (rigid boundary), where the Rayleigh number is based on the radius of the source. Both these expressions have corrections arising from a slender-body expansion in powers of $(\ln Ra)^{-1}$.

Type
Papers
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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