1 / 15

Convection in a planetary body

Convection in a planetary body. Geosciences 519 Natalie D. Murray April 2, 2002. Convection. Process of heat transfer ( from hotter to colder regions) by the bulk motion of a fluid More efficient in heat transfer than conduction Needs: Temperature gradient Gravity .

amie
Download Presentation

Convection in a planetary body

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Convection in a planetary body Geosciences 519 Natalie D. Murray April 2, 2002

  2. Convection • Process of heat transfer ( from hotter to colder regions) by the bulk motion of a fluid • More efficient in heat transfer than conduction • Needs: • Temperature gradient • Gravity

  3. Temperature structure of the mantle– superadiabatic temperature gradient due to heating from beneath (from the core) and radiogenic heat production http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/users/jcm/Topics3/Topics3.html

  4. Buoyancy • Parcel – unit volume of a fluid • Adiabatic process – no exchange of heat with surroundings • Simple process : • Parcel is heated from below • Temperature increases causing density changes • Density of parcel is less than that of surrounding material • Parcel is more buoyant and will rise • Since the temperature gradient is superadiabatic and the parcel rises adiabatically, the parcel is warmer than the surroundings and will continue to rise.

  5. Navier-Strokes Equations Momentum equation Mass Conservation equation Conservation of Energy Hydrostatic Equation

  6. Boussinesq Approximation Density variations are ignored except when coupled with gravity and give rise to buoyancy (gravitational force) Prandtl Number • Virtually infinite in the mantle • Inertial forces are insignificant • Convection depends on pressure, temperature and viscosity

  7. Forces opposing convection Viscosity – opposes fluid flow (for the Mantle – about the same as for steel 1E20 Pa s) Thermal diffusivity - suppress the temperature fluctuation by causing the rising plume of hot fluid to equilibriate with surrounding fluid (weakens the buoyancy force)

  8. Rayleigh Number Ratio of buoyancy force to the viscous – diffusive force Convection due to superadiabatic temperature gradient Critical Rayleigh Number – value that if exceeded convection is certain Rayleigh Number for the mantle is super critical Thermal expansion coeff – the more a fluid expands, the more it’s density is lowered Typical values for coefficients can be found on Lowrie pg 328 Table 6.2 Convection due to radiogenic heat Lowrie pg 328

  9. Stability http://www.seas.smu.edu/~arunn/html/convect/rbconvect/rbcon.html

  10. Simple Convective Cell http://ldeo.columbia.edu/users/jcm/Topics3/Topics3.html

  11. Rayleigh-Benard Convection • Simple model of convection • Thermal convection – transfer of heat through a fluid • Parcel will rise to the level of neutral buoyancy • The hot layer will try to rise while the cold layer will try to sink. • Breaks up into convective cells • In the form of rolls, hexagon cells, etc.

  12. Rayleigh-Benard Convection http://www.seas.smu.edu/~arunn/html/convect/rbconvect/rbcon.html

  13. Rayleigh-Benard Convection http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/users/jcm/Topics3/Topics3.html

  14. Convective Cells in the Mantle http://geollab.jmu.edu/Ficher/plateTect/heathistory.html

  15. Helpful Websites http://scienceworld.wolfram.com http://www.psigate.ac.uk/

More Related