Richard J.A.M. Stevens

Professor at the University of Twente

Wind energy · Turbulence · Environmental flows

Publication 24 · Thermal convection

Heat transport and flow structure in rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection

R.J.A.M. Stevens, H.J.H. Clercx, D. Lohse, European Journal of Mechanics B/Fluids 40, 41-49 (2013).

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Main finding

The review connects rotation-induced changes in convection structures and boundary layers to heat-transport enhancement and suppression. It synthesizes earlier studies; quantitative claims require their primary sources and the review adds no independent replication.

Heat transport against inverse Rossby number with three rotation regimes marked
How to read the figure. Heat transport under rotation, normalised by its non-rotating value, against the inverse Rossby number, with the three regimes marked. The curve is flat under weak rotation, rises to about 1.2, then falls to 0.7: rotation first enhances convection and then suppresses it. This is a review figure summarising the state of the field in 2013 rather than a new measurement. Open the full-resolution figure. Figure 2. R.J.A.M. Stevens et al. (2013). No separate licence is stated here; consult the original publication and credited source before reuse.

Why this matters

Rotation can first enhance and then suppress convection.

Research context

This is a narrative synthesis of published experiments, simulations, and the wider literature rather than an independent numerical campaign. Quantitative results should therefore be attributed to the cited primary studies, while the review supplies the programme-level map from large-scale circulation to Ekman vortices and eventual rotational suppression.

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