Table of Contents

Modeling: A strategy for understanding.- A simple nonlinear model of convection.- From the equations of motion to spectral models.- Linear stability analysis.- Bifurcation analysis of stationary solutions.- Typical branching forms: Stationary solutions.- The expected branching solution: Preferred wavelengths.- Identifying crucial parameters with contact catastrophe theory.- Hierarchies of transitions: Secondary branching.- Alexander-Yorke Continuation: Numerically finding all the stationary solutions in a spectral model.- Typical branching forms: Periodic solutions.- The expected branching solution: Preferred wavelengths and orientations.- On computing the branching direction of bifurcating periodic solutions.- Bifurcation analysis of periodic solutions.- The transition to turbulence.- Diagnosing the structures of attractors.- to topological hydrodynamics.- Modeling and metamodeling.