Accurate solutions of natural convection flow of air in a differentially heated cubic cavity

Accurate solutions of the equations governing the natural convection of air in a cubic cavity, thermally driven on two opposite vertical faces, are given for Rayleigh number values up to 10(7) These solutions are obtained with a pseudo-spectral Chebyshev algorithm based on the projection-diffusion method [1, 2] with a spatial resolution supplied by a 81 x 81 x 81 polynomial expansion. The solutions are believed to be accurate to better than [0.002, 0.02] % in relative spatial error for the corresponding Rayleigh number (Ra) range [10(3), 10(7)]. They clearly indicate a non monotonous evolution of the flow structure as Ra increases.