This is a calculation of convection in a two fluid system in a box with temperature dependent rheology. The system is heated from below and cooled from above and the side walls have a zero heat flux boundary condition. The top, bottom and sides have free slip velocity boundary conditions. The Rayleigh Number for this problem is 300,000. This corresponds to a 6% density difference due to the thermal expansivity of the fluid. The red fluid is 4% denser than the overlying fluid, simulating an increase in iron content in the lower mantle. This calculation was used to study the deformation of a cold downgoing slab of ocean crust (blue) in the Earth's mantle when the slab enchounters a chemical barrier. The calculations were performed on the Cray X-MP1/8 at JPL using ConMan, a two-dimensional finite element program for incompressible creep-flow.
Authors: Scott D. King
Seismological Laboratory
Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125
scott@seismo.gps.caltech.edu
Arthur Raefsky
Electrical Engineering Dept.
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
arthur@pudleys.stanford.edu
Bradford H. Hager
Department of Earth, Atmosphere and Planetary Science
