A general spectral method is proposed for the numerical solution of the steady 2D thermal convection equations. The spatial discretization is performed by means of Chebyshev orthogonal collocation which is preconditioned by a standard Galerkin finite element technique. Non-trivial geometries are treated by combining coordinate transformation to domain partitioning. Natural convection problems are thus solved in complex geometries while keeping the attractive properties of spectral methods.
Schneidesch, CR., & Deville, MO. (1994). Multidomain Decomposition of Curved Geometries in the Chebyshev Collocation Method for Thermal Problems. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 116(1-4), 87-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0045-7825(94)80011-1 (Original work published 1994)