Inproceedings,
Three-Dimensional Transition in the Buoyancy Boundary Layer on an Evenly Heated Vertical Wall
Proceedings of the Fifteenth Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Sydney, The University of Sydney, (December 2004)
Abstract
The three-dimensional structure of the thermal boundary layer adjacent to an evenly heated vertical wall with imposed stable background density stratification is investigated using direct numerical simulation. The wall is considered to extend infinitely in the vertical and spanwise directions, with the heating imposed as a constant flux boundary condition. Flow behaviour is determined by a Reynolds number based on the ratio of the boundary flux gradient to the background gradient. For low Reynolds numbers the flow is stable with variation in the wall normal direction only. For Reynolds numbers greater than a critical value the flow is unstable and supports a two-dimensional wave travelling vertically up the plate, in the direction of fluid flow. A further increase in Reynolds number sees the generation of a three-dimensional spanwise structure on the two-dimensional travelling wave.
