Experimental and Numerical Investigation of a Rayleigh-Bénard Convection Affected by Coriolis Force

In this paper the influence of an impressed Coriolis force field on the configuration of a turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection problem is investigated in an experimental and numerical study. The main purpose of both studies lie on the analysis of a possible stabilising effect of a Coriolis acceleration on the turbulent unsteady structures inside the fluid. The relative Coriolis acceleration which is caused in the atmosphere by the earth rotation is realised in the experimental study by a uniform-rotational movement of the setup in a large-scale centrifuge under hyper-gravity. The same conditions as in the atmosphere in the beginning of a twister or hurricane should be realised in the experiment. The investigated Rayleigh numbers lie between 2.33 × 106 ≤ Ra ≤ 4.32 × 107.