A semi-implicit spectral method for compressible convection of rotating and density-stratified flows in Cartesian geometry

In this paper, we have described a 'stratified' semi-implicit spectral method to study compressible convection in Cartesian geometry. The full set of compressible hydrodynamic equations are solved in conservative forms. The numerical scheme is accurate and efficient, based on fast Fourier/sin/cos spectral transforms in the horizontal directions, Chebyshev spectral transform or second-order finite difference scheme in the vertical direction, and second order semi-implicit scheme in time marching of linear terms. We have checked the validity of both the fully pseudo-spectral scheme and the mixed finite-difference pseudospectral scheme by studying the onset of compressible convection. The difference of the critical Rayleigh number between our numerical result and the linear stability analysis is within two percent. Besides, we have computed the Mach numbers with different Rayleigh numbers in compressible convection. It shows good agreement with the numerical results of finite difference methods and finite volume method. This model has wide application in studying laminar and turbulent flow. Illustrative examples of application on horizontal convection, gravity waves, and long-lived vortex are given in this paper. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.