title: Polymer heat transport enhancement in thermal convection: the case of Rayleigh-Taylor turbulence.
abstract: We study the effects of polymer additives on turbulence generated by the ubiquitous Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Numerical simulations of complete viscoelastic models provide clear evidence that the heat transport is enhanced up to 50% with respect to the Newtonian case. This phenomenon is accompanied by a speed-up of the mixing layer growth. We give a phenomenological interpretation of these results based on small-scale turbulent reduction induced by polymers.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica Generale and INFN, Università di Torino, via P. Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boffetta
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mazzino
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Musacchio
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vozella