The large-scale flow structure and the turbulent transfer of heat and momentum are directly measured in highly turbulent liquid metal convection experiments for Rayleigh numbers varied between ...4×10^{5} and ≤5×10^{9} and Prandtl numbers of 0.025≤Pr≤0.033. Our measurements are performed in two cylindrical samples of aspect ratios Γ=diameter/height=0.5 and 1 filled with the eutectic alloy GaInSn. The reconstruction of the three-dimensional flow pattern by 17 ultrasound Doppler velocimetry sensors detecting the velocity profiles along their beam lines in different planes reveals a clear breakdown of coherence of the large-scale circulation for Γ=0.5. As a consequence, the scaling laws for heat and momentum transfer inherit a dependence on the aspect ratio. We show that this breakdown of coherence is accompanied with a reduction of the Reynolds number Re. The scaling exponent β of the power law Nu∝Ra^{β} crosses eventually over from β=0.221 to 0.124 when the liquid metal flow at Γ=0.5 reaches Ra≳2×10^{8} and the coherent large-scale flow is completely collapsed.
We identify an incorrect term in the expression for the rate of change of circulation of a material volume including an interface between two fluids which appears in Brøns
et al.
(
J. Fluid Mech.
, ...vol. 758, 2014, pp. 63–93).
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