Embedded Files
The natural world is replete with examples of phase-change driven by convective heat transfer, and the Earth's cryosphere (the polar ice caps, glaciers etc.) is a case in point.
Seen above are characteristic patterns called "scallops" that form when ice melts due to convective heat transfer.
Rotating Convection and MELTING
Rotating Convection and MELTING
We studied, in particular, the effects of rotation on the melting of a solid, finding a feedback between the melting morphology and the convective flow structures that cause the melting. We found that the convective flow structures (the vortices) are `locked in' under the voids they create in the solid, and as a result that the vortices more around much less.
Read more about this work in Ravichandran and Wettlaufer, Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Volume 916, 10 June 2021 , A28
Rotating Sheared Convection and Melting
Rotating Sheared Convection and Melting
The addition of shear affects the dynmics significantly, as we report in Ravichandran, Toppaladoddi and Wettlaufer, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Volume 941, A39
The combination of shear and buoyancy leads to the generation of domes and ridges in the ice. These domes `lock in' the convection rolls that create them, becoming more prominent in the process.
The combination of shear and rotation with convection leads to effects that depend on the relative magnitudes.
For intermediate shear, grooves are formed in the ice but in a direction perpendicular to the externally applied pressure gradient.
For sufficiently large shear, geostrophy-breaking near the ice-water interface leads to the formation of patterns aligned neither along the external pressure gradient nor perpendicular but at an angle. This is shown in the figure below.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse