Upper bounds on Nusselt number at finite Prandtl number (Q898577)

In this paper the authors consider the Rayleigh-Benard convection problem between two heated plates, in the Oberbeck-Boussinesq approximation. They study the problem of relative upper bounds for Nusselt number \(Nu\) with respect to Rayleigh (\(Ra\)) and Prandtl (\(Pr\)) numbers and they identify two different regimes, whether \(Pr\geq Ra^{1/3}(\log Ra)^{1/3}\), or \(Pr\leq Ra^{1/3}(\log Ra)^{1/3}\). In the first case they find that \[ Nu\leq C Ra^{1/3}(\log Ra)^{1/3}, \] while in the second one, a Prandtl dependence of the upper bound appears, giving \[ Nu\leq C Pr^{-1/2}(\log Ra)^{1/2}. \]