Multiple heat transport maxima in confined-rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection

Moderate rotation and moderate horizontal confinement similarly enhance the heat transport in Rayleigh–Bénard convection (RBC). Here, we systematically investigate how these two types of flow stabilization together affect transport. We conduct direct numerical simulations confined-rotating RBC a cylindrical set-up at Prandtl number $\textit {Pr}=4.38$ , various Rayleigh numbers $2\times 10^{8}\leqslant {\textit {Ra}}\leqslant 7\times 10^{9}$ . Within parameter space (given as inverse Rossby $0\leqslant {Ro}}^{-1}\leqslant 40$ ) height-to-diameter aspect ratio $2\leqslant \varGamma ^{-1}\leqslant 32$ ), observe three maxima. At lower $ {Ra}}$ combination can achieve larger than either or individually, whereas higher alone is most effective enhancing Further, identify effects transport: (i) kinetic thermal boundary layer thicknesses controlling efficiency Ekman pumping, (ii) formation stable domain-spanning for an efficient vertical through bulk. Their interfering efficiencies generate multiple