Volumetric temperature determination in turbulent thermal convection using temperature sensitive tracer particles

• Applicant: Dr. Stephan Weiss
• Subject Area: Fluid Mechanics
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 548073157

Many turbulent flows in nature and engineering applications transport heat either as an active or a passive scalar by advecting a temperature field. A precise knowledge of the temperature distribution inside such flows is therefore crucial for a detailed description and for model development. In this project, we will develop experimental methods based on high-density Lagrangian particle tracking with and without temperature sensitive tracer particles in order to determine the volumetric temperature field in turbulent thermal convection. In this way we plan to measure and reconstruct simultaneously the velocity and the temperature fields, with a spatial resolution that so far can only be reached in direct numerical simulation, but over long time duration that are only accessible in experiments. With such measurement techniques, we will conduct global spatiotemporally resolved temperature measurements in Rayleigh--Benard convection in two different experimental apparatuses using liquids (water) and gases (air). The method for the temperature reconstruction will be validated and benchmarked with direct numerical simulations, which mimic the experimental parameters, geometry and boundary conditions, and that are provided to us by our collaborators.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Cooperation Partner: Privatdozentin Dr. Olga Shishkina