title: Heat transfer enhancement induced by wall inclination in turbulent thermal convection.
abstract: We present a series of numerical simulations of turbulent thermal convection of air in an intermediate range or Rayleigh numbers (10(6)≤Ra≤10(9)) with different configurations of a thermally active lower surface. The geometry of the lower surface is designed in such a way that it represents a simplified version of a mountain slope with different inclinations (i.e., "Λ"- and "V"-shaped geometry). We find that different wall inclinations significantly affect the local heat transfer by imposing local clustering of instantaneous thermal plumes along the inclination peaks. The present results reveal that significant enhancement of the integral heat transfer can be obtained (up to 32%) when compared to a standard Rayleigh-Bénard configuration with flat horizontal walls. This is achieved through combined effects of the enlargement of the heated surface and reorganization of the large-scale flow structures.
authors.affiliation: Transport Phenomena Section, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Applied Sciences and J.M. Burgerscentrum for Fluid Mechanics, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 136, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Saša
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kenjereš