Physical Review Letters ( IF 8.385 ) Pub Date : 2020-11-20 , DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.125.214501
Andrés J. Aguirre Guzmán; Matteo Madonia; Jonathan S. Cheng; Rodolfo Ostilla-Mónico; Herman J. H. Clercx; Rudie P. J. Kunnen

We perform direct numerical simulations of rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RRBC) of fluids with low ($\mathrm{Pr}=0.1$) and high ($\mathrm{Pr}\approx 5$) Prandtl numbers in a horizontally periodic layer with no-slip bottom and top boundaries. No-slip boundaries are known to actively promote the formation of plumelike vertical disturbances, through so-called Ekman pumping, that control the ambient flow at sufficiently high rotation rates. At both Prandtl numbers, we demonstrate the presence of competing large-scale vortices (LSVs) in the bulk. Strong buoyant forcing and rotation foster the quasi-two-dimensional turbulent state of the flow that leads to the upscale transfer of kinetic energy that forms the domain-filling LSV condensate. The Ekman plumes from the boundary layers are sheared apart by the large-scale flow, yet we find that their energy feeds the upscale transfer. Our results of RRBC simulations substantiate the emergence of large-scale flows in nature regardless of the specific details of the boundary conditions.

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