Turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection of water in cubical cavities: A numerical and experimental study

Experimental measurements and numerical simulations of natural convection in a cubical cavity heated from below and cooled from above are reported at turbulent Rayleigh numbers using water as a convective fluid (Pr = 6.0). Direct numerical simulations were carried out considering the Boussinesq approximation with a second-order finite volume code (107 ⩽ Ra ⩽ 108). The particle image velocimetry technique was used to measure the velocity field at Ra = 107, Ra = 7 × 107 and Ra = 108 and there was general agreement between the predicted time averaged local velocities and those experimentally measured if the heat conduction through the sidewalls was considered in the simulations.