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Updated: Mar 30, 2026

Experimental Methodology for Estimation of Local Heat Fluxes and Burning Rates in Steady Laminar Boundary Layer Diffusion Flames
Published on: June 1, 2016
Comparative Experimental Study of Fixed Temperature and Fixed Heat Flux Boundary Conditions in Turbulent Thermal
Shi-Di Huang1, Fei Wang1, Heng-Dong Xi2
1Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.
Abstract:
We report the first experimental study of the influences of the thermal boundary condition on turbulent thermal convection. Two configurations were examined: one had a constant heat flux at the bottom boundary and a constant temperature at the top (CFCT cell); the other had constant temperatures at both boundaries (CTCT cell). In addition to producing different temperature stability in the boundary layers, the differences in the boundary condition lead to rather unexpected changes in the flow dynamics. It is found that, surprisingly, reversals of the large-scale circulation occur more frequently in the CTCT cell than in the CFCT cell, despite the fact that in the former its flow strength is on average 9% larger than that in the latter. Our results not only show which aspects of the thermal boundary condition are important in thermal turbulence, but also reveal that, counterintuitively, the stability of the flow is not directly coupled to its strength.
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