An assessment of implicit-explicit time integrators for the pseudo-spectral approximation of Boussinesq thermal convection in an annulus

We analyze the behavior of an ensemble of time integrators applied to the semi-discrete problem resulting from the spectral discretization of the equations describing Boussinesq thermal convection in a cylindrical annulus. The equations are cast in their vorticity-streamfunction formulation that yields a differential algebraic equation (DAE). The ensemble comprises 28 members: 4 implicit-explicit multistep schemes, 22 implicit-explicit Runge-Kutta (IMEX-RK) schemes, and 2 fully explicit schemes used for reference. The schemes whose theoretical order varies from 2 to 5 are assessed for 11 different physical setups that cover laminar and turbulent regimes. Multistep and order 2 IMEX-RK methods exhibit their expected order of convergence under all circumstances. IMEX-RK methods of higher-order show occasional order reduction that impacts both algebraic and differential field variables. We ascribe the order reduction to the stiffness of the problem at hand and, to a larger extent, the presence of the DAE. Using the popular Crank-Nicolson Adams-Bashforth of order 2 (CNAB2) integrator as reference, performance is defined by the ratio of maximum admissible time step to the cost of performing one iteration; the maximum admissible time step is determined by inspection of the time series of viscous dissipation within the system, which guarantees a physically acceptable solution. Relative performance is bounded between 0.5 and 1.5 across all studied configurations. Considering accuracy jointly with performance, we find that 6 schemes consistently outperform CNAB2, meaning that in addition to allowing for a more efficient calculation, the accuracy that they achieve at their operational, dissipation-based limit of stability yields a lower error. In our most turbulent setup, where the behavior of the methods is almost entirely dictated by their explicit component, 13 IMEX-RK integrators outperform CNAB2 in terms of accuracy and efficiency.