Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 28: Fluid Physics and Turbulence

DY 28.1: Invited Talk

Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 14:00–14:30, ZEU/0118

Geometry of turbulent mixing in thermal convection — •Jörg Schumacher — Institut für Thermo- und Fluiddynamik, TU Ilmenau, Germany

Thermal convection flows, which are driven by buoyancy forces, are ubiquitous in nature and technology ranging from atmospheric dynamics to heat transfer in blankets of nuclear fusion devices. They are mostly connected to further physical processes, such as phase changes, radiation or magnetic fields, but the paradigm to all these turbulent flows is the plane Rayleigh-Bénard convection layer that is uniformly heated from below and cooled from above. In my talk, I will review some recent numerical investigations, both in the Eulerian and Lagrangian frames of reference, which shed new light on geometric aspects of these flows. This comprises the organization of thermal plumes in hierarchical and self-affine near-wall networks, the large-scale organization of the flow structures, and the organization of tracer particle tracks to extreme swirling events. Consequences for the turbulent transport of heat and momentum across the convection layer and their necessary modeling will be discussed.

Keywords: Turbulence; Turbulent convection; Pattern analysis