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ARTICLE

Influence of Bottom Inclination on the Flow Structure in a Rotating Convective Layer

by Andrei Vasiliev, Andrei Sukhanovskii^*, Elena Popova

Laboratory of Turbulence, Institute of Continuous Media Mechanics UB RAS, Perm, 614013, Russia

* Corresponding Author: Andrei Sukhanovskii. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advanced Problems in Fluid Mechanics)

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2024, 20(4), 739-748. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2024.048092

Received 27 November 2023; Accepted 19 December 2023; Issue published 28 March 2024

Abstract

The formation of convective flows in a rotating cylindrical layer with an inclined bottom and free surface is studied. Convection is driven by localized cooling at the center of the upper free surface and by rim heating at the bottom near the sidewall. The horizontal temperature difference in a rotating layer leads to the formation of a convective flow with a complex structure. The mean meridional circulation, consisting of three cells, provides a strongly non-uniform differential rotation. As a result of the instability of the main cyclonic zonal flow, the train of baroclinic waves appears in the upper layer. The baroclinic waves provide most of the heat transfer in the middle radii and are responsible for strong temperature and velocity fluctuations. It is shown that the inclination of the bottom is a crucial factor for the structure of the convective cells and the dynamics of the baroclinic waves. The increase in the inclination angle leads to a significant increase in the energy of the waves. The obtained results may be important for heat and mass transfer in various geophysical and industrial systems, including transport of various additives and impurities in rotating crucibles, and crystallization processes.

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