Optimal wall-to-wall transport by incompressible flows

DOI10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.118.264502arXiv1612.05199WikidataQ52576962 ScholiaQ52576962MaRDI QIDQ6280901FDOQ6280901

Charles R. Doering, Ian Tobasco

Publication date: 15 December 2016

Abstract: We consider wall-to-wall transport of a passive tracer by divergence-free velocity vector fields $mathbfu$. Given an enstrophy budget $langle|ablamathbfu{|}^{2}angleleP{e}^2$ we construct steady two-dimensional flows that transport at rates $Nu(mathbfu)gtrsimP{e}^{2/3}/(logPe{)}^{4/3}$ in the large enstrophy limit. Combined with the known upper bound $Nu(mathbfu)lesssimP{e}^{2/3}$ for any such enstrophy-constrained flow, we conclude that maximally transporting flows satisfy $NusimP{e}^{2/3}$ up to possible logarithmic corrections. Combined with known transport bounds in the context of Rayleigh-B'enard convection this establishes that while suitable flows approaching the "ultimate" heat transport scaling $NusimR{a}^{1/2}$ exist, they are not always realizable as buoyancy-driven flows. The result is obtained by exploiting a connection between the wall-to-wall optimal transport problem and a closely related class of singularly perturbed variational problems arising in the study of energy-driven pattern formation in materials science.

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