Towards A Unified Model For The Dynamics Of Planets

Muhlhaus, Hans, Moresi, Louis, Davies, Matt and Gottschaldt, Klaus (2005). Towards A Unified Model For The Dynamics Of Planets. In: Papadrakakis, M., Onate, E. and Schrefler, B., Proceedings of Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering. Coupled Problems 2005: Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering, Santorini, Greece, (1-23). 25-27 May, 2005.

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Author Muhlhaus, Hans
Moresi, Louis
Davies, Matt
Gottschaldt, Klaus
Title of paper Towards A Unified Model For The Dynamics Of Planets
Conference Paper Type Fully Published Paper
Conference name Coupled Problems 2005: Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering
Conference location Santorini, Greece
Conference dates 25-27 May, 2005
Proceedings title Proceedings of Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering
Editor Papadrakakis, M.
Onate, E.
Schrefler, B.
Publisher International Center for Numerical Methods in Engineering
Publication date 2005
ISBN 978-84-96736-18-4
Start page 1
End page 23
Total pages 23
Language eng
Abstract/Summary The way a planet deforms in response to thermal or gravitational driving forces, depends on the material properties of its constituents. The Earth's behaviour is unique in that its outermost layer consists of a small number of continuously moving plates. Venus, another planet of similar size and bulk composition to the Earth displays signs of active volcanism but there is no evidence of plate movements or plate tectonics. In this article we review Eulerian finite element (FE) schemes and a particle-in-cell (PIC) FE scheme.1 Focussing initially on models of crustal deformation at a scale of a few tens of km, we choose a Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion based upon the idea that frictional slip occurs on whichever one of many randomly oriented planes happens to be favorably oriented with respect to the stress field. As coupled crust/mantle models become more sophisticated it is important to be able to use whichever failure model is appropriate to a given part of the system. We have therefore developed a way to represent Mohr-Coulomb failure within a mantle-convection fluid dynamics code. With the modelling of lithosphere deformation we use an orthotropic viscous rheology (a different viscosity for pure shear to that for simple shear) to define a preferred plane for slip to occur given the local stress eld. The simple-shear viscosity and the deformation can then be iterated to ensure that the yield criterion is always satisfied. We again assume the Boussinesq approximation -neglecting any effect of dilatancy on the stress field. Turning to the largest planetary scale, we present an outline of the mechanics of unified models plate-mantle models and then show how computational solutions can be obtained for such models using Escript. The consequent results for different types of convection are presented and the stability of the observed flow patterns with respect to different initial conditions and computational resolutions is discussed.
Subjects 291802 Heat and Mass Transfer Operations
Keyword convection
mantle
yield
healing
finite-elements
meshless methods
plate tectonics
References Hans-Bernd Muhlhaus, Louis Moresi, Matt Davies and Klaus Gottschaldt (2005)TOWARDS A UNIFIED MODEL FOR THE DYNAMICS OF PLANETS,Int. Conf. on Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering, M. Papadrakakis, E. Onate and B. Schrefler (Eds), CIMNE, Barcelona, 2005 , ISBN: 84-95999-71-4, 1-23
Q-Index Code EX
Additional Notes Hans-Bernd Muhlhaus, Louis Moresi, Matt Davies and Klaus Gottschaldt (2005)Towards A Unified Model For The Dynamics Of Planets,Int. Conf. on Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering, M. Papadrakakis, E. Onate and B. Schrefler (Eds), CIMNE, Barcelona, 2005 , ISBN: 84-95999-71-4, 1-23

Document type: Conference Paper
Sub-type: Fully Published Paper
Collections: Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) - Collection
Earth Systems Science Computational Centre Publications
 
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Created: Wed, 05 Oct 2005, 10:00:00 EST by Hans-Bernd Muhlhaus on behalf of Earth Systems Science Computational Centre