Learning Forum

[feroz.mulani85]

My 2d geometry is as shown below :nMy question is what characteristic dimension should i take i.e distance between crest of the top wave to bottom wave or trough of the top wave & bottom wave.nalso if i provide a phase difference between them, say Pi/4 then how should the characteristic dimension will change.nThanksn

[Karthik Remella]

Hello,nWhat analysis are you running? I'd assume that your characteristic length scale would either be the amplitude or the wavelength of the wave. But again, this depends on the problem you are attempting to model.nKarthik n

[feroz.mulani85]

This is Rayleigh-Benard convection problem, bottom surface is hot, top is cold, side walls are insulated. In normal rectangular cavity, height is taken as characteristic dimension. In this case also vertical height is the characteristic dimension, but how to chose the vertical height, iam confused.n

[Rob]

What do you want to do with the characteristic length ? They are typically used to compare or calculate values but don't alter the flow or calculated results, they do effect coefficients.