Measurements of the unsteady temperature fluctuations in the plume region between differentially heated horizontal concentric cylinders are reported. In particular, power spectral density estimates of the temperature fluctuations within the plume show the development and breakdown of the oscillatory plume structure at high Rayleigh number, Rad, by two relatively independent processes: (1) the development of harmonic oscillations related to the dominant plume oscillation frequency, and (2) interactions between the oscillating plume and the adjacent relatively stagnant core flow (shear and entrainment). The harmonic oscillations are shown to be the dominant energy transfer mode at moderate Rad (up to Rad = 108), acting to disperse the plume energy without generating a broadband spectrum. The spectral density estimates show that while a distinct plume oscillation is still present near the inner cylinder at Rad = 109, the plume becomes increasingly turbulent as the outer cylinder is approached. A new correlation for the plume oscillation frequency, which is found to be proportional to $Rad0.5$, is also presented.

1.
Bill
R. G.
, and
Gebhart
B.
,
1979
, “
The Development of Turbulent Transport in a Vertical Natural Convection Boundary Layer
,”
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
, Vol.
22
, pp.
267
277
.
2.
Bishop
E. H.
,
1988
, “
Heat Transfer by Natural Convection of Helium Between Horizontal Isothermal Concentric Cylinders at Cryogenic Temperature
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER
, Vol.
110
, pp.
109
115
.
3.
Bishop
E. H.
,
Carley
C. T.
, and
Powe
R. R.
,
1968
, “
Natural Convective Oscillatory Flow in Cylindrical Annuli
,”
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
, Vol.
11
, pp.
1741
1752
.
4.
Dai
Z.
,
Tseng
L. K.
, and
Faeth
G. M.
,
1994
, “
Structure of Round, Fully Developed, Buoyant Turbulent Plumes
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER
, Vol.
116
, pp.
409
417
.
5.
Dai
Z.
,
Tseng
L. K.
, and
Faeth
G. M.
,
1995
, “
Velocity Statistics of Round, Fully Developed, Buoyant Turbulent Plumes
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER
, Vol.
117
, pp.
138
145
.
6.
Fersner, J. W., 1986, “Natural Convection Between Horizontal Isothermal Concentric Cylinders: The Temperature Field,” M.S. thesis, Clemson University, Clem-son, SC.
7.
Fisher, C. E., 1996, “An Experimental Study of Plume Dynamics in Turbulent Natural Convection in a Horizontal Annulus,” Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
8.
Fisher, C. E., Kohli, A., and Ball, K. S., 1995, “An Experimental Study of High Rayleigh Number Natural Convection in a Horizontal Annulus,” Proceedings of the 30th National Heat Transfer Conference, Vol. 8, I. S. Habib et al., eds., ASME, New York, pp. 69–78.
9.
Fisher, C. E., Kohli, A., and Ball, K. S., 1994, “Measurement of Power Spectral Density in Turbulent Natural Convection using a Laser Doppler Velocimeter,” ASME Paper No. 94-WA/HT-16.
10.
Kuehn
T. H.
, and
Goldstein
R. J.
,
1976
a, “
An Experimental and Theoretical Study of Natural Convection in the Annulus between Horizontal Concentric Cylinders
,”
Journal of Fluid Mechanics
, Vol.
74
, pp.
695
719
.
11.
Kuehn
T. H.
, and
Goldstein
R. J.
,
1976
b, “
Correlating Equations for Natural Convection Heat Transfer between Horizontal Circular Cylinders
,”
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
, Vol.
19
, pp.
1127
1134
.
12.
Kuehn
T. H.
, and
Goldstein
R. J.
,
1978
, “
An Experimental Study of Natural Convection Heat Transfer in Concentric and Eccentric Horizontal Cylindrical Annuli
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER
, Vol.
100
, pp.
635
640
.
13.
Kuehn
T. H.
, and
Goldstein
R. J.
,
1980
, “
A Parametric Study of Prandtl Number and Diameter Ratio Effects on Natural Convection Heat Transfer in Horizontal Cylindrical Annuli
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER
, Vol.
102
, pp.
768
770
.
14.
Lis, J., 1966, “Experimental Investigation of Natural Convection Heat Transfer in Simple and Obstructed Horizontal Annuli,” Proceedings of the Third International Heat Transfer Conference, AIChE, New York, pp. 196–204.
15.
McLeod, A. E., 1987, “Heat Transfer by Natural Convection of Helium Between Horizontal Isothermal Concentric Cylinders at Cryogenic Temperatures,” M.S. thesis, Clemson University, Clemson, SC.
16.
McLeod
A. E.
, and
Bishop
E. H.
,
1989
, “
Turbulent Natural Convection of Gases in Horizontal Cylindrical Annuli at Cryogenic Temperatures
,”
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
, Vol.
32
, pp.
1967
1978
.
17.
Moffat
R. J.
,
1982
, “
Contribution to the Theory of Single-Sample Uncertainty Analysis
,”
ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering
, Vol.
104
, pp.
250
258
.
18.
Papanicolaou
P. N.
, and
List
E. J.
,
1987
, “
Statistical and Spectral Properties of Tracer Concentration in Round Buoyant Jets
,”
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
, Vol.
30
, pp.
2059
2071
.
19.
Powe
R. E.
,
Carley
C. T.
, and
Bishop
E. H.
,
1969
, “
Free Convective Flow Patterns in Cylindrical Annuli
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER
, Vol.
91
, pp.
310
314
.
20.
Sangras
R.
,
Dai
Z.
, and
Faeth
G. M.
,
1998
, “
Mixing Structure of Plane Self-Preserving Buoyant Turbulent Plumes
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER
, Vol.
120
, pp.
1033
1041
.
21.
Tennekes, H. and Lumley, J. L., 1972, A First Course in Turbulence, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
22.
Turner, J. S., 1973, Buoyancy Effects in Fluids, Cambridge University Press, New York.
This content is only available via PDF.