Scalings of heat transport and energy spectra of turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection in a large-aspect-ratio box

Abstract: Direct Numerical Simulations of turbulent convection in a large aspect-ratio box are carried out in the range of Rayleigh number $7 \times 10^4 \le Ra \le 2 \times 10^6$ at Prandtl number Pr=0.71. A strong correlation between the vertical velocity and temperature is observed in the turbulent regime at almost all the length scales. Frequency spectra of all the velocities and temperature show a $-5/3$ law for a wide band of frequencies. The variances of horizontal velocities at different points in the flow yield a single power-law. Probability density functions of velocities and temperature are close to Gaussian only at higher Rayleigh numbers. The mean and variance of temperature clearly show boundary layers, surface layers and a near-homogeneous bulk region. The boundary layer thickness decreases and bulk-homogeneity is enhanced on increasing the Rayleigh numbers. The wave number spectra of the turbulent kinetic energy exhibit Kolmogorov like ($E(k)\sim k^{-5/3}$) and Bolginao-Obukhov like ($E(k)\sim k^{-11/5}$) behaviour respectively in the central and near-wall regions of the container. An approximate balance between the production due to buoyancy and the dissipation is found in the turbulent kinetic energy budget. Taylor's approximate equation of the production due to turbulent stretching and the dissipation of turbulent enstrophy is modified by the inclusion of buoyancy production in the enstrophy budget. The present results support the previously proposed $2/7$ power-law dependence of the average Nusselt number on the Rayleigh number by yielding an exponent of 0.272, but do not necessarily support the proposed classification of "soft" and "hard" turbulence on the basis of this exponent.