Buoyant flows on a vertical cone

Buoyant flows are of importance in mass and energy transformation in mountain areas, and significantly influence on local climate. The mountain is modeled by a vertical cone and three dimensional numerical simulation is carried out for Rayleigh numbers of Ra = 7.14 × 106 –2.34 × 107 in which the vertical cone is heated to the specified temperature in order to simulate buoyant flows on the mountain heated by solar radiation. Based on the comparison between numerical and experimental results, buoyant flows on the vertical cone are characterized and the mechanisms are analyzed. Further, the thickness of the thermal boundary layer, the velocity of the plume front, the vorticity, the volume and the onset of the break of the plume cap, and heat and mass transfer are measured; a set of scaling laws are obtained and verified by numerical and experimental results.