2 Dimensional Cartesian Thermochemical Demonstrations

Thermochemical convection calculations are those which employ density differences due to composition in addition to changing density due to temperature. The demonstrations shown here represent a 2-component system, in which a dense layer is introduced into the convection model.

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Effect of Buouyancy Number



Effect of Buoyancy Number

The buoyancy number represents the intrinsic density difference between two materials. The higher this number, the greater the density difference, vice versa. The calculations here have a Rayleigh number of 106 and employ a temperature-dependent viscosity which leads to a 1000 times viscosity contrast between the hottest and coldest parts of the model.


Buoyancy number = 2.0
(full-sized snapshot image)
movie ( MB)  




Buoyancy number = 0.8
(full-sized snapshot image)
movie ( MB)  




Buoyancy number = 0.6
(full-sized snapshot image)
movie ( MB)  




Buoyancy number = 0.5
(full-sized snapshot image)
movie (3.7 MB)  




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