Study on the steady-oscillatory transition of three-dimensional (3D) natural convection via Hopf bifurcation

The transition from steady-state flow to periodic oscillatory flow for the natural convection by Hopf bifurcation is investigated in a three-dimensional (3D) cavity. The spectral collocation method (SCM) in combination with the artificial compressibility method (ACM), which is developed by ourselves as a numerical method SCM-ACM with high accuracy, is employed to solve the governing equations directly instead of linear stability analysis method that is commonly used for the research on flow instability. The results show that the amplitude decays exponentially with time and the decay rate is linear with the Grashof number (Gr). The critical Grashof number for steady-oscillatory transition is obtained as Gr_cr = 3.423 × 10⁶. The dimensionless angular frequency ω_cr = 0.24 is also determined by Fourier analysis. In this work, we also examine the heat-momentum interactions within the boundary layers, visualize the periodic oscillations of temperature and velocity amplitudes, and analyze the origin of instability from multiple angles. The results show that large oscillations of velocity and temperature are observed near the isothermal walls. The oscillation is enhanced by the increase of thermal boundary layer thickness and flow velocity at both ends of isothermal walls. The maximum velocity and temperature amplitudes appear at the lower left and upper right corners of the mid-plane (Z = 0.5), where are the origin of instability, and the spanwise walls are almost independent of oscillations. The oscillatory flow of natural convection in three-dimensional cavity originates from the continuously increasing buoyancy force, and its transition occurs by Hopf bifurcation. Moreover, the temperature amplitude exhibits a wavy distribution on the mid-plane (X = 0.5) and strongly depends on the depth Z. These results provide benchmark data for future numerical studies and engineering application.