Numerical simulation of natural convection between two vertical differentially heated plates

We consider the natural convection of air (Pr = 0.71) between two infinite vertical differentially heated plates. The temperature on each plate is constant and uniform. We use a 3D direct numerical simulation (DNS) code to determine the instabilities of the flow above the critical Rayleigh number. A Ginzburg-Landau equation is derived analytically for the flow around the first bifurcation and its predictions are compared to DNS results. Subsequent bifurcations and associated symmetry-breaking phenomena are analyzed and identified