Asymptotic Behavior of the Global Attractors to the Boussinesq System for Rayleigh-Bénard Convection at Large Prandtl Number

Abstract

We study asymptotic behavior of the global attractors to the Boussinesq system for Rayleigh-Bénard convection at large Prandtl number. in particular, we show that the global attractors to the Boussinesq system for Rayleigh-Bénard convection converge to that of the infinite-Prandtl- number model for convection as the Prandtl number approaches infinity. This offers partial justification of the infinite-Prandtl-number model for convection as a valid simplified model for convection at large Prandtl number even in the long-time regime. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc