arXiv subjects

Olga Shishkina

Publications and source records attributed to Olga Shishkina.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Ultimate regimes in horizontal and internally heated convection

We derive asymptotic models for the ultimate regimes in horizontal convection (HC) and pure internally heated convection (IHC), in analogy with our recent (2024) extension of the ultimate-regime model for Rayleigh-Benard convection (RBC). To derive the corresponding models for HC and IHC, we combine turbulent boundary-layer relations with the exact dissipation balances for these two systems. For HC, the resulting scaling relations are consistent with the rigorous transport bound of Siggers et al. (2004). For pure IHC, they are consistent with the exact HC-IHC balance analogy of Wang et al. (2021) and with the rigorous bounds on the convective-flux asymmetry in the equal-temperature-plates configuration (Arslan et al 2021). The main difference between RBC and HC/IHC is that, in the latter two cases, the global kinetic-energy balance does not contain the additional response factor (dimensionless convective heat flux in HC or inverse bulk temperature in IHC), whereas it does in RBC. As a consequence, for fixed Pr, the ultimate-regime scaling exponent is 1/3 for both HC and IHC, rather than 1/2 as in RBC.

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arXiv2026

On multiple stable states in Taylor-Couette flow with realistic end-wall boundary conditions

We investigate Taylor-Couette flow with realistic no-slip boundary conditions at all surfaces through direct numerical simulations (DNS) and theoretical analysis. Imposing physically consistent end-wall conditions at the top and bottom lids significantly alters the flow dynamics compared to that for periodic boundary conditions. We extend the classical angular-momentum-flux framework to account for axial transport, which leads to a significantly improved agreement with the Eckhardt-Grossmann-Lohse model (Eckhardt et al. 2007). A systematic exploration of the parameter space $(Re, n) $ uncovers multiple long-lived states with different roll number $n$ configurations at identical Reynolds numbers $Re$, giving rise to pronounced hysteresis loops occurring under realistic boundary conditions. Our DNS for no-slip axial end caps reveal a sequence of structural transitions: as the inner-cylinder Reynolds number increases, the flow evolves from Taylor vortex flow through chaotic wavy vortex flow and turbulent wavy vortex flow to an axisymmetric turbulent Taylor vortex flow. Using modal energy budgets we identify transition mechanisms and quantify how the accessible phase-space volume and associated roll-specific angular momentum flux depend on control parameters and the specific flow state. Our findings demonstrate the impact of realistic boundary conditions on the dynamics in Taylor-Couette flow, and how they change the stability landscape of multiple states. The coexistence of distinct flow patterns and their stability analysis offers promising insights into transition dynamics between laminar and turbulent regimes in closed sheared flows.

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arXiv2025

Subcritical transition and multistability in liquid metal magnetoconvection with sidewalls

The motionless conducting state of liquid metal convection with an applied vertical magnetic field confined in a vessel with insulating side walls becomes linearly unstable to wall modes through a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation. Nevertheless, we show that the transition proceeds subcritically, with stable finite-amplitude solutions with different symmetries existing at parameter values beneath this linear stability threshold. Under increased thermal driving, the branch born from the linear instability becomes unstable and solutions are attracted to the most subcritical branch, which follows a quasiperiodic route to chaos. Thus, we show that the transition to turbulence is controlled by this subcritical branch and hence, turbulent solutions have no connection to the initial linear instability. This is further quantified by observing that the subcritical equilibrium solution sets the spatial symmetry of the turbulent mean flow and thus, organises large-scale structures in the turbulent regime.

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arXiv2025

Heat transport model for the transition between scaling regimes in quasistatic and full magnetoconvection

In magnetoconvection, the flow is governed by the interplay between gravitational buoyancy and the Lorentz force, with one of these forces dominating in different regimes. In this paper, we develop a model with a single adjustable parameter that accurately captures the smooth transition from a buoyancy-dominated regime to one dominated by the Lorentz force. A perturbative extension of the model accounts for distinct transition features that occur at high Prandtl numbers. We validate the model for magnetoconvection in both the quasistatic regime and at finite magnetic Reynolds numbers using data from direct numerical simulations and existing experimental data sets. The model contains a natural extension to rotating convection and offers a potential generalisation to rotating magnetoconvection.

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arXiv2024

Ultimate regime of Rayleigh-Benard turbulence: Sub-regimes and their scaling relations for Nu vs. Ra and Pr

We offer a new model for the heat transfer and the turbulence intensity in strongly driven Rayleigh-Benard turbulence (the so-called ultimate regime), which in contrast to hitherto models is consistent with the new mathematically exact heat transfer upper bound of Choffrut et al. [J. Differential Equations 260, 3860 (2016)] and thus enables extrapolations of the heat transfer to geo- and astrophysical flows. The model distinguishes between four subregimes of the ultimate regime and well describes the measured heat transfer in various large-Ra experiments. In this new representation, which properly accounts for the Prandtl number dependence, the onset to the ultimate regime is seen in all available large-Ra data sets, though at different Rayleigh numbers, as to be expected for a non-normal-nonlinear instability.

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arXiv2024

Scaling relations for heat and momentum transport in sheared Rayleigh-Bénard convection

We provide scaling relations for the Nusselt number $Nu$ and the friction coefficient $C_{S}$ in sheared Rayleigh-Bénard convection, i.e., in Rayleigh-Bénard flow with Couette or Poiseuille type shear forcing, by extending the Grossmann & Lohse (2000,2001,2002,2004) theory to sheared thermal convection. The control parameters for these systems are the Rayleigh number $Ra$, the Prandtl number $Pr$, and the Reynolds number $Re_S$ that characterises the strength of the imposed shear. By direct numerical simulations and theoretical considerations, we show that in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection, the friction coefficients associated with the applied shear and the shear generated by the large-scale convection rolls are both well described by Prandtl's (1932) logarithmic friction law, suggesting some kind of universality between purely shear driven flows and thermal convection. These scaling relations hold well for $10^6 \leq Ra \leq 10^8$, $0.5 \leq Pr \leq 5.0$, and $0 \leq Re_S \leq 10^4$.

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arXiv2024

Wall modes and the transition to bulk convection in rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection

We investigate states of rapidly rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a cylindrical cell over a range of Rayleigh number $3\times10^5\leq Ra \leq 5\times10^{9}$ and Ekman number $10^{-6} \leq Ek \leq 10^{-4}$ for Prandtl number $Pr = 0.8$ and aspect ratios $1/5 \leq Γ\leq 5$ using direct numerical simulations. We characterize, for perfectly insulating sidewall boundary conditions, the first transition to convection via wall mode instability and the nonlinear growth and instability of the resulting wall mode states including a secondary transition to time dependence. We show how the radial structure of the vertical velocity $u_z$ and the temperature $T$ is captured well by the linear eigenfunctions of the wall mode instability where the radial width of $u_z$ is $δ_{u_z} \sim Ek^{1/3} r/H$ whereas $δ_T \sim e^{-k r}$ ($k$ is the wavenumber of an laterally infinite wall mode state). The disparity in spatial scales for $Ek = 10^{-6}$ means that the heat transport is dominated by the radial structure of $u_z$ since $T$ varies slowly over the radial scale $δ_{u_z}$. We further describe how the transition to a state of bulk convection is influenced by the presence of the wall mode states. We use temporal and spatial scales as measures of the local state of convection and the Nusselt number $Nu$ as representative of global transport. Our results elucidate the evolution of the wall state of rotating convection and confirm that wall modes are strongly linked with the boundary zonal flow (BZF) being the robust remnant of nonlinear wall mode states. We also show how the heat transport ($Nu$) contributions of wall modes and bulk modes are related and discuss approaches to disentangling their relative contributions.

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arXiv2023

Wall mode dynamics and transition to chaos in magnetoconvection with a vertical magnetic field

Quasistatic magnetoconvection of a low Prandtl number fluid ($\textrm{Pr}=0.025)$ with a vertical magnetic field is considered in a unit aspect ratio box with no-slip boundaries. At high relative magnetic field strengths, given by the Hartmann number $\textrm{Ha}$, the onset of convection is known to result from a sidewall instability giving rise to the wall mode regime. Here, we carry out 3D direct numerical simulations of unprecedented length to map out the parameter space at $\textrm{Ha} = 200, 500, 1000$, varying the Rayleigh number ($\textrm{Ra}$) between $6\times10^5 \lesssim \textrm{Ra} \lesssim 5\times 10^8$. We track the development of stable equilibria produced by this primary instability, identify bifurcations leading to limit cycles, and eventually to chaotic dynamics. At {$\textrm{Ha}=200$}, the steady wall mode solution undergoes a symmetry-breaking bifurcation producing a state featuring a coexistence between wall modes and a large-scale roll in the centre of the domain which persists to higher $\textrm{Ra}$. However, under a stronger magnetic field at $\textrm{Ha}=1000$, the steady wall mode solution undergoes a Hopf bifurcation producing a limit cycle which further develops to solutions that shadow an orbit homoclinic to a saddle point. Upon a further increase in $\textrm{Ra}$, the system undergoes a subsequent symmetry break producing a coexistence between wall modes and a large-scale roll, although the large-scale roll exists only for a small range of $\textrm{Ra}$, and chaotic dynamics primarily arise due to a mixture of chaotic wall mode dynamics and arrays of cellular structures.

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arXiv2023

Unifying heat transport model for the transition between buoyancy-dominated and Lorentz-force-dominated regimes in quasistatic magnetoconvection

In magnetoconvection, the flow of electromagnetically conductive fluid is driven by a combination of buoyancy forces, which create the fluid motion due to thermal expansion and contraction, and Lorentz forces, which distort the convective flow structure in the presence of a magnetic field. The differences in the global flow structures in the buoyancy-dominated and Lorentz-force-dominated regimes lead to different heat transport properties in these regimes, reflected in distinct dimensionless scaling relations of the global heat flux (Nusselt number $\textrm{Nu}$) versus the strength of buoyancy (Rayleigh number $\textrm{Ra}$) and electromagnetic forces (Hartmann number $\textrm{Ha}$). Here, we propose a theoretical model for the transition between these two regimes for the case of a quasistatic vertical magnetic field applied to a convective fluid layer confined between two isothermal, a lower warmer and an upper colder, horizontal surfaces. The model suggests that the scaling exponents $γ$ in the buoyancy-dominated regime, $\textrm{Nu}\sim\textrm{Ra}^γ$, and $ξ$ in the Lorentz-force-dominated regime, $\textrm{Nu}\sim(\textrm{Ha}^{-2}\textrm{Ra})^ξ$, are related as $ξ=γ/(1-2γ)$, and the onset of the transition scales with $\textrm{Ha}^{-1/γ}\textrm{Ra}$. These theoretical results are supported by our Direct Numerical Simulations for $10\leq \textrm{Ha}\leq2000$, Prandtl number $\textrm{Pr}=0.025$ and $\textrm{Ra}$ up to $10^9$ and data from the literature.

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arXiv2023

Scaling regimes in rapidly rotating thermal convection at extreme Rayleigh numbers

The geostrophic turbulence in rapidly rotating thermal convection exhibits characteristics shared by many highly turbulent geophysical and astrophysical flows. In this regime, the convective length and velocity scales, heat flux, and kinetic and thermal dissipation rates are all diffusion-free, meaning that they are independent of the viscosity and thermal diffusivity. Our direct numerical simulations (DNS) of rotating Rayleigh--Bénard convection in domains with no-slip top and bottom and periodic lateral boundary conditions for a fluid with the Prandtl number $Pr=1$ and extreme buoyancy and rotation parameters (the Rayleigh number up to $Ra=3\times10^{13}$ and the Ekman number down to $Ek=5\times10^{-9}$) indeed demonstrate these diffusion-free scaling relations, in particular, that the dimensionless convective heat transport scales with the supercriticality parameter $\widetilde{Ra}\equiv Ra\,Ek^{4/3}$ as $Nu-1\propto \widetilde{Ra}^{3/2}$, where $Nu$ is the Nusselt number. We further derive and verify in the DNS that with the decreasing $\widetilde{Ra}$ the geostrophic turbulence regime undergoes a transition into another geostrophic regime where the convective heat transport scales as $Nu-1\propto \widetilde{Ra}^{3}$.

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arXiv2023

Oscillatory large-scale circulation in liquid-metal thermal convection and its structural unit

In Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC), the size of a flow domain and its aspect ratio $\varGamma$ (a ratio between the spatial length and height of the domain) affect the shape of the large-scale circulation (LSC). For some aspect ratios, the flow dynamics include a three-dimensional oscillatory mode known as a jump-rope vortex (JRV), however, the effects of varying aspect ratios on this mode are not well investigated. In this paper, we study these aspect-ratio effects in liquid metals, for a low Prandtl number $Pr=0.03$. Direct numerical simulations and experiments are carried out for a Rayleigh number range $2.9 \times 10^4 \leq Ra \leq 1.6 \times 10^6$ and square cuboid domains with $\varGamma=2$, $2.5$, $3$ and $5$. Our study demonstrates that a repeating pattern of a JRV encountered at an aspect ratio $\varGamma \approx 2.5$ is the basic structural unit that builds up to a lattice of interlaced JRVs at the largest aspect ratio. The size of the domain determines how many structural units are self-organized within the domain; the number of the realized units is expected to scale as $\varGamma^2$ with sufficiently large and growing $\varGamma$. We find the oscillatory modes for all investigated $\varGamma$, however, they are more pronounced for $\varGamma=2.5$ and $\varGamma=5$. Future studies for large-aspect ratio domains of different shapes would enhance our understanding of how the JRVs adjust and reorganize at such scaled-up geometries, and answer the question of whether they are indeed the smallest superstructure units.

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arXiv2022

Data-driven identification of the spatio-temporal structure of turbulent flows by streaming Dynamic Mode Decomposition

Streaming Dynamic Mode Decomposition (sDMD) (Hemati et al., Phys. Fluids 26(2014)) is a low-storage version of Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) (Schmid, J. Fluid Mech. 656 (2010)), a data-driven method to extract spatio-temporal flow patterns. Streaming DMD avoids storing the entire data sequence in memory by approximating the dynamic modes through incremental updates with new available data. In this paper, we use sDMD to identify and extract dominant spatio-temporal structures of different turbulent flows, requiring the analysis of large datasets. First, the efficiency and accuracy of sDMD are compared to the classical DMD, using a publicly available test dataset that consists of velocity field snapshots obtained by direct numerical simulation of a wake flow behind a cylinder. Streaming DMD not only reliably reproduces the most important dynamical features of the flow; our calculations also highlight its advantage in terms of the required computational resources. We subsequently use sDMD to analyse three different turbulent flows that all show some degree of large-scale coherence: rapidly rotating Rayleigh--Bénard convection, horizontal convection and the asymptotic suction boundary layer. Structures of different frequencies and spatial extent can be clearly separated, and the prominent features of the dynamics are captured with just a few dynamic modes. In summary, we demonstrate that sDMD is a powerful tool for the identification of spatio-temporal structures in a wide range of turbulent flows.

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arXiv2021

Connecting wall modes and boundary zonal flows in rotating Rayleigh--Bénard convection

Using direct numerical simulations, we study rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a cylindrical cell for a broad range of Rayleigh, Ekman, and Prandtl numbers from the onset of wall modes to the geostrophic regime, an extremely important one in geophysical and astrophysical contexts. We connect linear wall-mode states that occur prior to the onset of bulk convection with the boundary zonal flow that coexists with turbulent bulk convection in the geostrophic regime through the continuity of length and time scales and of convective heat transport. We quantitatively collapse drift frequency, boundary length, and heat transport data from numerous sources over many orders of magnitude in Rayleigh and Ekman numbers. Elucidating the heat transport contributions of wall modes and of the boundary zonal flow are critical for characterizing the properties of the geostrophic regime of rotating convection in finite, physical containers and is crucial for connecting the geostrophic regime of laboratory convection with geophysical and astrophysical systems.

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arXiv2021

Crossover of the relative heat transport contributions of plume ejecting and impacting zones in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection

Turbulent thermal convection is characterized by the formation of large-scale structures and strong spatial inhomogeneity. This work addresses the relative heat transport contributions of the large-scale plume ejecting versus plume impacting zones in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection. Based on direct numerical simulations of the two dimensional (2-D) problem, we show the existence of a crossover in the wall heat transport from initially impacting dominated to ultimately ejecting dominated at a Rayleigh number of $Ra\approx 3 \times 10^{11}$. This is consistent with the trends observed in 3-D convection at lower Ra, and we therefore expect a similar crossover to also occur there. We identify the development of a turbulent mixing zone, connected to thermal plume emission, as the primary mechanism for the crossover. The mixing zone gradually extends vertically and horizontally, therefore becoming more and more dominant for the overall heat transfer.

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arXiv2021

Boundary zonal flows in rapidly rotating turbulent thermal convection

Recently, in Zhang et al. (2020), it was found that in rapidly rotating turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC) in slender cylindrical containers (with diameter-to-height aspect ratio $Γ=1/2$) filled with a small-Prandtl-number fluid ($Pr \approx0.8$), the Large Scale Circulation (LSC) is suppressed and a Boundary Zonal Flow (BZF) develops near the sidewall, characterized by a bimodal PDF of the temperature, cyclonic fluid motion, and anticyclonic drift of the flow pattern (with respect to the rotating frame). This BZF carries a disproportionate amount ($>60\%$) of the total heat transport for $Pr < 1$ but decreases rather abruptly for larger $Pr$ to about $35\%$. In this work, we show that the BZF is robust and appears in rapidly rotating turbulent RBC in containers of different $Γ$ and in a broad range of $Pr$ and $Ra$. Direct numerical simulations for $0.1 \leq Pr \leq 12.3$, $10^7 \leq Ra \leq 5\times10^{9}$, $10^{5} \leq 1/Ek \leq 10^{7}$ and $Γ$ = 1/3, 1/2, 3/4, 1 and 2 show that the BZF width $δ_0$ scales with the Rayleigh number $Ra$ and Ekman number $Ek$ as $δ_0/H \sim Γ^{0} \Pr^{\{-1/4, 0\}} Ra^{1/4} Ek^{2/3}$ (${Pr<1, Pr>1}$) and the drift frequency as $ω/Ω\sim Γ^{0} Pr^{-4/3} Ra Ek^{5/3}$, where $H$ is the cell height and $Ω$ the angular rotation rate. The mode number of the BZF is 1 for $Γ\lesssim 1$ and $2 Γ$ for $Γ$ = {1,2} independent of $Ra$ and $Pr$. The BZF is quite reminiscent of wall mode states in rotating convection.

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arXiv2020

Generation of zonal flows in convective systems by travelling thermal waves

This work addresses the effect of travelling thermal waves applied at the fluid layer surface, on the formation of global flow structures in 2D and 3D convective systems. For a broad range of Rayleigh numbers ($10^3\leq Ra \leq 10^7$) and thermal wave frequencies ($10^{-4}\leq Ω\leq 10^{0}$), we investigate flows with and without imposed mean temperature gradients. Our results confirm that the travelling thermal waves can cause zonal flows, i.e. strong mean horizontal flows. We show that the zonal flows in diffusion dominated regimes are driven purely by the Reynolds stresses, always travelling retrograde, while in convection dominated regimes, mean flow advection, caused by tilted convection cells, becomes dominant, which generally leads to prograde mean zonal flows. By means of direct numerical simulations we validate theoretical predictions made for the diffusion dominated regime. Furthermore, we make use of the linear stability analysis and explain the existence of the tilted convection cell mode. Our extensive 3D simulations support the results for 2D flows and thus confirm the relevance of the findings for geopyhsical and astrophysical systems.

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arXiv2020

Universal properties of penetrative turbulent Rayleigh--Bénard convection in cold water near $4^\circ\rm{C}$

Penetrative turbulence, which occurs in a convectively unstable fluid layer and penetrates into an adjacent, originally stably stratified layer, is numerically and theoretically analyzed. We chose the most relevant example, namely thermally driven flow of water with a temperature around $T_m\approx 4^\circ\rm{C}$, where it has its density maximum. We pick the Rayleigh-Bénard geometry with the bottom plate temperature $T_b > 4^\circ\rm{C}$ and the top plate temperature $T_t \le 4^\circ\rm{C}$. Next to the overall thermal driving strength set by the temperature difference $Δ= T_b - T_t$ (the Rayleigh number $Ra$ in dimensionless form), the crucial new control parameter as compared to standard Rayleigh-Bénard convection is the density inversion parameter $θ_m \equiv (T_m - T_t ) / Δ$. The crucial response parameters are the relative mean mid-height temperature $θ_c$ and the overall heat transfer (i.e., the Nusselt number $Nu$). We theoretically derive the universal (i.e., $Ra$-independent) dependence $θ_c (θ_m) =(1+θ_m^2)/2$, which holds for $θ_m$ below a $Ra$-dependent critical value, beyond which $θ_c (θ_m)$ sharply decreases and drops down to $θ_c=1/2$ at $θ_m=θ_{m,c}$. Our direct numerical simulations with $Ra$ up to $10^{10}$ are consistent with these results. The critical density inversion parameter $θ_{m,c}$ can be precisely predicted by a linear stability analysis. The heat flux $Nu(θ_m)$ monotonically decreases with increasing $θ_m$ and we can theoretically derive a universal relation for the relative heat flux $Nu(θ_m)/Nu(0)$. Finally, we numerically identify and discuss rare transitions between different turbulent flow states for large $θ_m$.

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arXiv2020

Regime transitions in thermally driven high-Rayleigh number vertical convection

Vertical convection is investigated using direct numerical simulations over a wide range of Rayleigh numbers $10^7\le Ra\le10^{14}$ with fixed Prandtl number $Pr=10$, in a two-dimensional convection cell with unit aspect ratio. It is found that the dependence of the mean vertical centre temperature gradient $S$ on $Ra$ shows three different regimes: In regime I ($Ra \lesssim 5\times10^{10}$), $S$ is almost independent of $Ra$; In the newly identified regime II ($5\times10^{10} \lesssim Ra \lesssim 10^{13}$), $S$ first increases with increasing $Ra$ (regime ${\rm{II}}_a$), reaches its maximum and then decreases again (regime ${\rm{II}}_b$); In regime III ($Ra\gtrsim10^{13}$), $S$ again becomes only weakly dependent on $Ra$, being slightly smaller than in regime I. The transitions between diffeereent regimes are discussd. In the three different regimes, significantly different flow organizations are identified: In regime I and regime ${\rm{II}}_a$, the location of the maximal horizontal velocity is close to the top and bottom walls; However, in regime ${\rm{II}}_b$ and regime III, banded zonal flow structures develop and the maximal horizontal velocity now is in the bulk region. The different flow organizations in the three regimes are also reflected in the scaling exponents in the effective power law scalings $Nu\sim Ra^β$ and $Re\sim Ra^γ$. In regime I, the fitted scaling exponents ($β\approx0.26$ and $γ\approx0.51$) are in excellent agreement with the theoretical predication of $β=1/4$ and $γ=1/2$ for laminar VC (Shishkina, {\it{Phys. Rev. E.}} 2016, 93, 051102). However, in regimes II and III, $β$ increases to a value close to 1/3 and $γ$ decreases to a value close to 4/9. The stronger $Ra$ dependence of $Nu$ is related to the ejection of plumes and larger local heat flux at the walls.

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