Heat-flux scaling in turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection with an imposed longitudinal wind

We present a numerical study of Rayleigh-Benard convection disturbed by a longitudinal wind. Our results show that under the action of the wind, the vertical heat flux through the cell initially decreases, due to the mechanism of plume sweeping, and then increases again when turbulent forced convection dominates over the buoyancy. As a result, the Nusselt number is a nonmonotonic function of the shear Reynolds number. We provide simple models that capture with good accuracy all the dynamical regimes observed. We expect that our findings can lead the way to a more fundamental understanding of the complex interplay between mean wind and plume ejection in the Rayleigh-Benard phenomenology.