Using experimental data on thermal convection, obtained at a Rayleigh number
of 1.5 ×1011, it is shown that the temperature structure functions
, where ΔTr is the absolute value of the temperature
increment over a distance r, can be well represented in an intermediate range
of scales by rζpϕ(r)p, where the ζp are the scaling
exponents appropriate to the passive scalar problem in hydrodynamic turbulence
and the function ϕ(r)=1−a(lnr/rh)2. Measurements are made in the
midplane of the apparatus near the sidewall, but outside the boundary layer