arXiv subjects

Jan Verhoeven

Publications and source records attributed to Jan Verhoeven.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2017

Validity of Sound-Proof Approaches in Rapidly-Rotating Compressible Convection: Marginal Stability vs. Turbulence

The validity of the anelastic approximation has recently been questioned in the regime of rapidly-rotating compressible convection in low Prandtl number fluids (Calkins et al. 2015). Given the broad usage and the high computational efficiency of sound-proof approaches in this astrophysically relevant regime, this paper clarifies the conditions for a safe application. The potential of the alternative pseudo-incompressible approximation is investigated, which in contrast to the anelastic approximation is shown to never break down for predicting the point of marginal stability. Its accuracy, however, decreases close to the parameters corresponding to the failure of the anelastic approach, which is shown to occur when the sound-crossing time of the domain exceeds a rotation time scale, i.e. for rotational Mach numbers greater than one. Concerning the supercritical case, which is naturally characterised by smaller rotational Mach numbers, we find that the anelastic approximation does not show unphysical behaviour. Growth rates computed with the linearised anelastic equations converge toward the corresponding fully compressible values as the Rayleigh number increases. Likewise, our fully nonlinear turbulent simulations, produced with our fully compressible and anelastic models and carried out in a highly supercritical, rotating, compressible, low Prandtl number regime show good agreement. However, this nonlinear test example is for only a moderately low convective Rossby number of 0.14.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2015

Anelastic Versus Fully Compressible Turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard Convection

Numerical simulations of turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection in an ideal gas, using either the anelastic approximation or the fully compressible equations, are compared. Theoretically, the anelastic approximation is expected to hold in weakly superadiabatic systems with $ε= ΔT / T_r \ll 1$, where $ΔT$ denotes the superadiabatic temperature drop over the convective layer and $T_r$ the bottom temperature. Using direct numerical simulations, a systematic comparison of anelastic and fully compressible convection is carried out. With decreasing superadiabaticity $ε$, the fully compressible results are found to converge linearly to the anelastic solution with larger density contrasts generally improving the match. We conclude that in many solar and planetary applications, where the superadiabaticity is expected to be vanishingly small, results obtained with the anelastic approximation are in fact more accurate than fully compressible computations, which typically fail to reach small $ε$ for numerical reasons. On the other hand, if the astrophysical system studied contains $ε\sim O(1)$ regions, such as the solar photosphere, fully compressible simulations have the advantage of capturing the full physics. Interestingly, even in weakly superadiabatic regions, like the bulk of the solar convection zone, the errors introduced by using artificially large values for $ε$ for efficiency reasons remain moderate. If quantitative errors of the order of $10\%$ are acceptable in such low $ε$ regions, our work suggests that fully compressible simulations can indeed be computationally more efficient than their anelastic counterparts.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2014

The compressional beta effect: a source of zonal winds in planets?

Giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn feature strong zonal wind patterns on their surfaces. Although several different mechanisms that may drive these jets have been proposed over the last decades, the origin of the zonal winds is still unclear. Here, we explore the possibility that the interplay of planetary rotation with the compression and expansion of the convecting fluid can drive multiple deep zonal jets by a compressional Rhines-type mechanism, as originally proposed by Ingersoll and Pollard (1982). In a certain limit, this deep mechanism is shown to be mathematically analogous to the classical Rhines mechanism possibly operating at cloud level. Jets are predicted to occur on a compressional Rhines length $l_R = (2 Ω\langle H_ρ^{-1} \rangle v_{jet}^{-1} )^{-1/2}$, where $Ω$ is the angular velocity, $\langle H_ρ^{-1} \rangle$ is the mean inverse density scale height and $v_{jet}$ is the typical jet velocity. Two-dimensional numerical simulations using the anelastic approximation reveal that this mechanism robustly generates jets of the predicted width, and that it typically dominates the dynamics in systems deeper than $O(l_R)$. Potential vorticity staircases are observed to form spontaneously and are typically accompanied by unstably stratified buoyancy staircases. The mechanism only operates at large rotation rates, exceeding those typically reached in three-dimensional simulations of deep convection in spherical shells. Applied to Jupiter and Saturn, the compressional Rhines scaling reasonably fits the available observations. Interestingly, even weak vertical density variations such as those in the Earth core can give rise to a large number of jets, leading to fundamentally different flow structures than predicted by the Boussinesq models typically used in this context.

astro-ph.EP↗