Characterization of natural convection between spherical shells

Abstract: In this manuscript, it is analysed the onset and evolution of natural convection of an incompressible fluid between spherical shells. The shells are kept at a fixed temperature difference and aspect ratio, and the Rayleigh-Benard convection is driven by different radial gravity profiles. The analysis has been carried out by using a finite difference scheme to solve the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations in spherical coordinates. Numerical results are compared with theoretical predictions from linear and non-linear stability analysis, and differ from the expected critical Rayleigh number Ra_c = 1708 by less than 1 percent. In the range of Prandlt numbers Pr studied, and for all the different gravity profiles analysed, the system presents a dependence on its starting condition and flow history. Even in the region just above the onset of convection, two stable states are observed, with qualitative and quantitative differences, and exploring higher values of Ra introduces new modes and time dependency phenomena in the flow. These results are corroborated by spectral analysis.