Numerical simulations of Boussinesq thermal convection utilizing spectral code of high resolution

Thermal convection is considered utilizing a relatively high-order spectral code. This is done in order to determine which features of the low-order convection models of Lorenz (1963), Curry (1978), and other investigators survive at sufficiently high-order resolution for the numerics to represent accurately the solutions of the underlying Navier-Stokes equations. Results obtained recently (Curry et al., 1982) for a Prandtl number of 10 are described. The question whether it is sufficient to consider two-dimensional convection to characterize qualitatively the chaotic behavior of the system is addressed, as is the problem of finding the frequency characteristics of the numerical simulation in relation to experimental convection. Attention is also given to the relationship between the chaos in convection of the sort discussed in recent studies and the more traditional measures of turbulence.