Transitions in heat transport by turbulent convection at Rayleigh numbers up to 1015

We describe a pressure vessel for conducting experiments in helium (He), air, nitrogen (N-2) or sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) under pressures of up to 19 bars, and facilities for the study of Rayleigh-Benard convection inside this pressure vessel. The convection cells, known as the high pressure convection facilities (HPCFs), can have interior heights up to L = 2.3 m and diameters up to D = 1.2 m. Measurements of the Nusselt number Nu for Rayleigh numbers Ra up to Ra* = 4 x 10(13) and a Prandtl number Pr similar or equal to 0.8 gave Nu proportional to Ra-gamma eff with gamma(eff) similar or equal to 0.308. At Ra* there was a sharp transition to a new regime. The Nusselt number was continuous at Ra*, but the exponent characterizing its dependence on Ra changed suddenly to gamma(eff) = 0.25. Near Ra = Ra** similar or equal to 3 x 10(14), there was a further change in the Ra-dependence of Nu. A new state with gamma(eff) similar or equal to 0.17 evolved and there was bistability of the gamma(eff) = 0.25 and the gamma(eff) = 0.17 branches.