Heat-Flux Measurement in High-Prandtl-Number Turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard Convection

We report Nusselt number measurements from high Prandtl number turbulent thermal convection experiments. The experiments are conducted in four fluids with the Prandtl number Pr varying from 4 to 1350 and the Rayleigh number Ra from 2×10⁷ to 3×10¹⁰, all in a single convection cell of unity aspect ratio. We find that the measured Nusselt number decreased about ∼20% over the range of Pr spanned in the experiment. The measure data are also found in good agreement with the prediction of a recent theory over the extended range of Pr covered in the experiment.