Numerical simulations of thermal convection in rotating spherical shells under laboratory conditions

An exhaustive study, based on numerical three-dimensional simulations, of the Boussinesq thermal convection of a fluid confined in a rotating spherical shell is presented. A moderately low Prandtl number fluid (sigma = 0.1) bounded by differentially-heated solid spherical shells is mainly considered. Asymptotic power laws for the mean physical properties of the flows are obtained in the limit of low Rossby number and compared with laboratory experiments and with previous numerical results computed by taking either stress-free boundary conditions or quasi-geostrophic restrictions, and with geodynamo models. Finally, using parameters as close as possible to those of the Earth's outer core, some estimations of the characteristic time and length scales of convection are given. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.