TY - JOUR
TI - The effect of surfactant solutions on flow structures in turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection
AU - Wei Tongzhou
AU - Cai Weihua
AU - Huang Changye
AU - Zhang Hongna
AU - Su Wentao
AU - Li Fengchen
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2018
VL - 22
IS - 12
SP - 507
EP - 515
PT - Article
AB - This paper presents an experimental study on the flow structures in turbulent  Rayleigh-Bénard convection with surfactant solutions. The shadowgraph  visualization was used to obtain the plumes and the velocity field was  measured using particle image velocimetry. The results show that the size of  plumes in surfactant solution case is larger than that in Newtonian fluid  case and it needs more time for surfactant solution case to start  convection. The large-scale circulation fails to form in surfactant solution  case and the convection velocity is smaller. A decrease of the measured  Nusselt number is observed in surfactant solution case. The above phenomena  are caused by the shear-shinning and elastic chara cteristics of surfactant  solution.