The convective flows which arise in shallow cavities filled with low-Prandtl-number fluids when subjected to a horizontal temperature gradient are studied numerically with a finite element method. Attention is focused on a rigid cavity with dimensions 4×2×1, for which experimental data are available. The three-dimensional results indicate that, after a relative concentration of the initial Hadley circulation, a transition to time-dependent flows occurs in the form of a roll oscillation with a purely dynamical origin. This transition corresponds to a Hopf bifurcation with a breaking of symmetry that gives some specific properties to the time evolution of the flow: these properties are shown to be the result of the general behaviour of the dynamical systems. Calculations performed in the case of mercury compare well with the experiments with similar power spectra of the temperature, and this validates the analysis of the nature of the global flow performed in the limiting case Pr=0. All these results are discussed with respect to the linear and nonlinear analyses and to other computational experiments. Numerical results obtained in the corresponding two-dimensional situation give a different transition to the time-dependent flow: it is shown that in the three-dimensional cavity this type of two-dimensional transition is less probable than the observed transition with breaking of symmetry.