Modulation of Rayleigh-Benard Convection by Lagrangian Thermal Forcing*

The Rayleigh-Benard (R-B) convection, consisting of a layer of fluid heated from the top and cooled from the bottom, has been widely investigated as an archetype of turbulent convection. \footnote {G. Ahlers, S. Grossmann, D. Lohse, Rev. Mod. Phys. 81 (2009) 503-537} The enhancement (diminution) of turbulence is known to strongly increase (decrease) the heat transfer in convection. \footnote{J. J. Niemela, K. R. Sreenivasan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 (2008) 184502}\\ The use of a ``nudging term" \footnote{P. Clark Di Leoni, A. Mazzino, L. Biferale, Phys. Rev. X 10 (2020) 011023} is a technique to force a dynamic system towards a given state. In this study, we use a nudging term added to the thermal component of the R-B equations to simulate tracer particles suspended in a R-B system releasing heat in a Lagrangian manner. \\ Our first investigations indicate it is possible to vary the degree of turbulence and thus modulate the bulk heat transfer using such a Lagrangian thermal forcing approach.