Numerical simulations of binary fluid convection in large aspect ratio annular containers

The patterns arising in large aspect ratio annular containers heated from below are analyzed for water-ethanol mixtures with negative Soret coupling. The subcritical Hopf bifurcation at the onset of convection leads to a very rich dynamics. Using high resolution numerical tools based on spectral methods to solve the hydrodynamic equations we obtain and review the properties of the different regimes arising in early stages of convection: spatially extended stationary and travelling wave convective roll structures, dispersive chaotic states, and several types of localized convection. The dynamics triggered by the Eckhaus–Benjamin–Feir instability is presented for a mixture with a moderate negative value of the separation ratio.