Applied Math Seminar

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Could convection in porous media explain the geysers of Enceladus?

Speaker: Samuel Boury, CIMS

Location: Warren Weaver Hall 1302

Date: Friday, September 17, 2021, 2:30 p.m.

Synopsis:

Motivated by Enceladus cryovolcanism and possible shear heating along
its south pole fractures, we perform a theoretical and numerical study
of boundary-layer convection along a vertical heated wall in a bounded
ideal mushy region. By focusing on this simple model, we demonstrate the
existence of four regions with different regimes and scalings that are
studied asymptotically, showing a good agreement between the theory and
the numerical simulations. Close to the heated wall, the convection in
the mushy layer is similar to a rising buoyant plume abruptly stopped at
the top, leading to increased pressure and temperature in the upper
region, that could be the ignition of Enceladus' geysers.