On the Numerical Computation of Two-Dimensional Convective Flow

Abstract

Numerical calculations of two-dimensional convection between flat plates at high Rayleigh numbers are presented. They do not show the large cell aspect ratios observed by Rothermel and Agee in their numerical calculations at high Rayleigh numbers. The present results appear to be insensitive to grid resolution, the conventional test of numerical accuracy, large amplitude random perturbations and the numerical representation of the diffusion term. We therefore suggest that the mechanism observed by Rothermel and Agee, which produces increasingly larger aspect ratio cells with increasing Rayleigh number, is strongly influenced by the numerical method used to solve the equations.