Topography generation by melting and freezing in a turbulent shear flow

Couston, Louis-Alexandre, Hester, Eric, Favier, Benjamin, Taylor, John R., Holland, Paul R. and Jenkins, Adrian (2021) Topography generation by melting and freezing in a turbulent shear flow. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 911. A44. ISSN 0022-1120

[img]
Preview
Text
topography-generation-by-melting-and-freezing-in-a-turbulent-shear-flow.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

Download (3MB) | Preview
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2020.1064

Abstract

We report an idealized numerical study of a melting and freezing solid adjacent to a turbulent, buoyancy-affected shear flow, in order to improve our understanding of topography generation by phase changes in the environment. We use the phase-field method to dynamically couple the heat equation for the solid with the Navier–Stokes equations for the fluid. We investigate the evolution of an initially flat and horizontal solid boundary overlying a pressure-driven turbulent flow. We assume a linear equation of state for the fluid and change the sign of the thermal expansion coefficient, such that the background density stratification is either stable, neutral or unstable. We find that channels aligned with the direction of the mean flow are generated spontaneously by phase changes at the fluid–solid interface. Streamwise vortices in the fluid, the interface topography and the temperature field in the solid influence each other and adjust until a statistical steady state is obtained. The crest-to-trough amplitude of the channels is larger than approximately 10δν in all cases, with δν the viscous length scale, but is much larger and more persistent for an unstable stratification than for a neutral or stable stratification. This happens because a stable stratification makes the cool melt fluid buoyant such that it shields the channel from further melting, whereas an unstable stratification makes the cool melt fluid sink, inducing further melting by rising hot plumes. The statistics of flow velocities and melt rates are investigated, and we find that channels and keels emerging in our simulations do not significantly change the mean drag coefficient.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: geophysical and geological flows, turbulent flows, solidification/melting
Subjects: F700 Ocean Sciences
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences
Department: Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Geography and Environmental Sciences
Depositing User: John Coen
Date Deposited: 25 Mar 2021 14:00
Last Modified: 31 Jul 2021 15:33
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/45793

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics