For geophysical CFD, what are typical values you deal with?
- Viscosity
- Density
- Velocity
- Reynolds number
- Simulation timestep
- Total simulation elapsed time
- Total number of simultaneous unknowns solved for
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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There are two kinds of geophysical flow studies one can do. 2D simulations where you use models like shallow water equations. Then you deal with
- Velocity
- Reynolds number (which implies some viscosity)
- Froude number (or gravity)
- Rossby number (or Coriolis force from Earth's rotation)
- Total energy (so you know when it is in a statistically steady state)
- Density only if you add many layer
- Boundary conditions (only if it matters, can be avoided)
You can also do a 3D simulation, but often we use the Boussinesq equations, in which density is approximated as a passive scalar.
This is only the setup, but there is a rich set of phenomena one can aim to simulate with.
So are you treating the Earth's crust as a shallow fluid layer? Or the mantle underneath? I would think the mantle is too thick for shallow water equations.
Usually for the troposphere or even the atmosphere and the ocean this can be a good model. As you said, I doubt if it can be used to represent lava flows under the earth - something a geologist would know and I am not one. 😀