Open Access

ARTICLE

Inertial-Wave Regime of Averaged Thermal Convection in a Rotating Vertical Flat Layer

Kirill Rysin^*, Alexey Vjatkin, Victor Kozlov

Laboratory of Vibrational Hydromechanics, Perm State Humanitarian Pedagogical University, Perm, 614990, Russia

* Corresponding Author: Kirill Rysin. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Non-Equilibrium Processes in Continuous Media)

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2025, 21(3), 605-621. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2025.061722

Received 01 December 2024; Accepted 11 February 2025; Issue published 01 April 2025

Abstract

Thermal vibrational convection (TVC) refers to the time-averaged convection of a non-isothermal fluid subjected to oscillating force fields. It serves as an effective mechanism for heat transfer control, particularly under microgravity conditions. A key challenge in this field is understanding the effect of rotation on TVC, as fluid oscillations in rotating systems exhibit unique and specific characteristics. In this study, we examine TVC in a vertical flat layer with boundaries at different temperatures, rotating around a horizontal axis. The distinctive feature of this study is that the fluid oscillations within the cavity are not induced by vibrations of the cavity itself, but rather by the gravity field, giving them a tidal nature. Our findings reveal that inertial waves generated in the rotating layer qualitatively alter the TVC structure, producing time-averaged flows in the form of toroidal vortices. Experimental investigations of the structure of oscillatory and time-averaged flows, conducted using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) for flow velocity visualization, are complemented by theoretical calculations of inertial modes in a cavity with this geometry. To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first of its kind. The agreement between experimental results and theoretical predictions confirms that the formation of convective structures in the form of toroidal vortices is driven by inertial waves induced by the gravity field. A decrease in the rotational velocity leads to a transformation of the convective structures, shifting from toroidal vortices of inertial-wave origin to classical cellular TVC. We present dimensionless parameters that define the excitation thresholds for both cellular convection and toroidal structures.

---

Keywords

---