The initial layer problem and infinite Prandtl number limit of Rayleigh-Bénard convection (Q2469280)

The authors investigate the infinite Prandtl number \(Pr\) limit of the Rayleigh-Bénard convection of a fluid involving heat transfer and confined by two paralel planes. They show that in the limit \(Pr\to\infty\), a solution of the full parabolic system of governing equations for the field velocity and the temperature converge to a solution to a single parabolic equation for the temperature and the elliptic equation for the pressure. The reduced system of equations is called the infinite Prandtl number system. An exact approximating solution with the zero order term and the 1-st order term in expansion is given and the convergence rates \(O(Pr^{-3/2})\) and \(O(Pr^{-2})\), resp., are obtained.