Transition to hard turbulence in thermal convection at infinite Prandtl number

Direct numerical simulations of two‐dimensional high Rayleigh (Ra) number, base‐heated thermal convection in large aspect‐ratio boxes are presented for infinite Prandtl number fluids, as applied to the Earth’s mantle. A transition is characterized in the flow structures in the neighborhood of Ra between 10⁷ and 10⁸. These high Ra flows consist of large‐scale cells with strong intermittent, boundary‐layer instabilities. For Ra exceeding 10⁷ it is found that the heat‐transfer mechanism changes from one characterized by mushroom‐like plumes to one consisting of disconnected ascending instabilities, which do not carry with them all the thermal anomaly from the bottom boundary layer. Plume–plume collisions become much more prominent in high Ra situations and have a tendency of generating a pulse‐like behavior in the fixed plume. This type of instability represents a distinct mode of heat transfer in the hard turbulent regime. Predictions of this model can be used to address certain issues concerning the mode of time‐dependent convection in the Earth’s mantle.