Viscous Dissipation and Dynamics in Simulations of Rotating, Stratified Plane-layer Convection

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Lance, Simon R. W., Currie, Laura K., Browning, Matthew K.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866909079050387456
author Lance, Simon R. W.
Currie, Laura K.
Browning, Matthew K.
author_facet Lance, Simon R. W.
Currie, Laura K.
Browning, Matthew K.
contents Convection in stars and planets must be maintained against viscous and Ohmic dissipation. Here, we present the first systematic investigation of viscous dissipation in simulations of rotating, density-stratified plane layers of convection. Our simulations consider an anelastic ideal gas, and employ the open-source code Dedalus. We demonstrate that when the convection is sufficiently vigorous, the integrated dissipative heating tends towards a value that is independent of viscosity or thermal diffusivity, but depends on the imposed luminosity and the stratification. We show that knowledge of the dissipation provides a bound on the magnitude of the kinetic energy flux in the convection zone. In our non-rotating cases with simple flow fields, much of the dissipation occurs near the highest possible temperatures, and the kinetic energy flux approaches this bound. In the rotating cases, although the total integrated dissipation is similar, it is much more uniformly distributed (and locally balanced by work against the stratification), with a consequently smaller kinetic energy flux. The heat transport in our rotating simulations is in good agreement with results previously obtained for 3D Boussinesq convection, and approaches the predictions of diffusion-free theory.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_11883
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Viscous Dissipation and Dynamics in Simulations of Rotating, Stratified Plane-layer Convection
Lance, Simon R. W.
Currie, Laura K.
Browning, Matthew K.
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Fluid Dynamics
Convection in stars and planets must be maintained against viscous and Ohmic dissipation. Here, we present the first systematic investigation of viscous dissipation in simulations of rotating, density-stratified plane layers of convection. Our simulations consider an anelastic ideal gas, and employ the open-source code Dedalus. We demonstrate that when the convection is sufficiently vigorous, the integrated dissipative heating tends towards a value that is independent of viscosity or thermal diffusivity, but depends on the imposed luminosity and the stratification. We show that knowledge of the dissipation provides a bound on the magnitude of the kinetic energy flux in the convection zone. In our non-rotating cases with simple flow fields, much of the dissipation occurs near the highest possible temperatures, and the kinetic energy flux approaches this bound. In the rotating cases, although the total integrated dissipation is similar, it is much more uniformly distributed (and locally balanced by work against the stratification), with a consequently smaller kinetic energy flux. The heat transport in our rotating simulations is in good agreement with results previously obtained for 3D Boussinesq convection, and approaches the predictions of diffusion-free theory.
title Viscous Dissipation and Dynamics in Simulations of Rotating, Stratified Plane-layer Convection
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.11883