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The progress in our understanding of several aspects of turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection is reviewed. The focus is on the question of how the Nusselt number and the Reynolds number depend on the Rayleigh number Ra and the Prandtl number Pr, and on how the thicknesses of the thermal and the kinetic boundary layers scale with Ra and Pr. Non-Oberbeck-Boussinesq effects and the dynamics of the large-scale convection-roll are addressed as well. The review ends with a list of challenges for future research on the turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard system.

This review summarizes results for Rayleigh-Bénard convection that have been obtained over the past decade or so. It concentrates on convection in compressed gases and gas mixtures with Prandtl numbers near one and smaller. In addition to the classical problem of a horizontal stationary fluid layer heated from below, it also briefly covers convection in such a layer with rotation about a vertical axis, with inclination, and with modulation of the vertical acceleration. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 2000.32:709-778. Downloaded from annualreviews.org Access provided by University of California -San Diego on 01/25/17. For personal use only. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 2000.32:709-778. Downloaded from annualreviews.org Access provided by University of California -San Diego on 01/25/17. For personal use only.