Richard J.A.M. Stevens

Professor at the University of Twente

Wind energy · Turbulence · Environmental flows

Publication 93 · Thermal convection

Off-centre gravity induces large-scale flow patterns in spherical Rayleigh-Bénard convection

G. Wang, L. Santelli, R. Verzicco, D. Lohse, and R.J.A.M. Stevens, J. Fluid Mech. 942, A21 (2022).

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Main finding

Displacing gravity from the centre reorganizes local flow and heat flux in the simulated spherical convection, with comparatively small changes in global heat transfer. The finite parameter set gives bounded support for the proposed baroclinic mechanism.

Temperature fields in a spherical shell at four gravity-centre offsets
How to read the figure. Snapshots of the temperature field at gravity-centre offsets of 0, 0.05, 0.4 and 0.8, shown as isosurfaces, polar views and equal-area projections. The convection pattern reorganises progressively as the offset grows. Open the full-resolution figure. Figure 4. G. Wang et al. (2022). No separate licence is stated here; consult the original publication and credited source before reuse.

Why this matters

Small geometric displacement can reorganize an entire convection pattern while leaving the global transfer comparatively similar.

Research context

Wang et al. (2021) also uses spherical-shell DNS but studies rotating diffusion-free scaling at different shell geometry and gravity specification. It is relevant context, not direct confirmation of the present non-rotating offset mechanism.

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