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Gabriel Hadjerci

Publications and source records attributed to Gabriel Hadjerci.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Rigorous ultimate scaling in rapidly rotating steady convection

Rapidly rotating Rayleigh-B\'enard convection admits a class of exact steady single-mode solutions describing high-amplitude convection cells. Using a matched asymptotic analysis in the high-Rayleigh-number limit, we obtain a rigorous characterization of their bulk and boundary-layer structure, yielding explicit scaling laws for the Nusselt and Reynolds numbers, including their dependence on the horizontal wavenumber. We show that, for suitable wavenumbers, these solutions attain the diffusivity-free ultimate scalings frequently assumed for geophysical and astrophysical convection, with additional enhancing logarithmic corrections. This reveals a specific mechanism through which rapidly rotating convection can approach ultimate heat transport via coherent columnar structures with well-defined horizontal scales.

physics.flu-dyn

Two-layer baroclinic turbulence with arbitrary layer depths

While heat transport by baroclinic turbulence in oceans and planetary atmospheres is well described by a two-layer model, the relative depth of the two layers varies greatly depending on the situation of interest, making it an important parameter governing the transport properties of the system. Focusing on the low-drag turbulent regime, we extend the vortex-gas scaling theory to address the case of arbitrary layer depths. To wit, we map the arbitrary-layer-depth system onto an equivalent equal-depth system with rescaled parameters, establishing the asymptotic validity of the mapping for weak bottom drag. This approach leads to quantitative predictions for the turbulent transport by two-layer baroclinic turbulence with arbitrary layer depths, without additional free parameters. We validate these predictions using an extended suite of numerical simulations with either linear or quadratic bottom drag.

physics.flu-dyn

Rapidly rotating radiatively driven convection: experimental and numerical validation of the `geostrophic turbulence' scaling predictions

We experimentally and numerically characterize rapidly rotating radiatively driven thermal convection, beyond the sole heat transport measurements reported in Bouillaut et al. (2021). Based on a suite of direct numerical simulations (DNS) and additional processing of the experimental data collected by Bouillaut et al. (2021), we report the simultaneous validation of the scaling predictions of the `geostrophic turbulence' regime -- the diffusivity-free or `ultimate' regime of rapidly rotating convection -- for the heat transport, the temperature fluctuations, the flow speed and the flow structure. Radiatively driven convection thus appears as a versatile setup for the laboratory observation of the diffusivity-free regimes of various convective flows of geophysical and/or astrophysical interest.

physics.flu-dyn

Vortex core radius in baroclinic turbulence: Implications for scaling predictions

We revisit the vortex-gas scaling theory for heat transport by baroclinic turbulence based on the empirical observation that the vortex core radius departs from the Rossby deformation radius for very low bottom drag coefficient. We derive a scaling prediction for the vortex-core radius. For linear bottom drag this scaling dependence for the vortex-core radius does not affect the vortex-gas predictions for the eddy diffusivity and mixing-length, which remain identical to those in Gallet and Ferrari (Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 117, 2020). By contrast, for quadratic drag the scaling dependence of the core radius induces new scaling-laws for the eddy diffusivity and mixing length when the quadratic-drag coefficient becomes asymptotically low. We validate the modified scaling predictions through numerical simulations of the two-layer model with very low quadratic-drag coefficient.

physics.flu-dyn

Transport and emergent stratification in the equilibrated Eady model: the vortex gas scaling regime

We numerically and theoretically investigate the Boussinesq Eady model, where a rapidly rotating density-stratified layer of fluid is subject to a meridional temperature gradient in thermal wind balance with a uniform vertically sheared zonal flow. Through a suite of numerical simulations, we show that the transport properties of the resulting turbulent flow are governed by quasi-geostrophic (QG) dynamics in the rapidly rotating strongly stratified regime. The 'vortex gas' scaling predictions put forward in the context of the two-layer QG model carry over to this fully 3D system: the functional dependence of the meridional flux on the control parameters is the same, the two ajustable parameters entering the theory taking slightly different values. In line with the QG prediction, the meridional buoyancy flux is depth-independent. The vertical buoyancy flux is such that turbulence transports buoyancy along isopycnals, except in narrow layers near the the top and bottom boundaries, the thickness of which decreases as the diffusivities go to zero. The emergent (re)stratification is set by a simple balance between the vertical buoyancy flux and diffusion along the vertical direction. Overall, this study demonstrates how the vortex-gas scaling theory can be adapted to quantitatively predict the magnitude and vertical structure of the meridional and vertical buoyancy fluxes, and of the emergent stratification, without additional fitting parameters.

physics.flu-dyn