Finite Element Analysis of Thermal Convection in Deep Ocean Sediments

摘要

Of obvious importance to the study and engineering of a seabed disposal is the determination of the temperature and fluid flow fields existing in the sediment layer and the perturbation of these fields due to the implantation of localized heat sources. The fluid mechanical and heat transfer process occurring in oceanic sediments may be characterized as free (or natural) convection in a porous material. In the case of an undisturbed sediment layer, the driving force for the natural circulation of pore water comes from the geothermal heat flux. Current theories for heat flow from the sea floor suggest the possibility of large scale hydrothermal circulation in the oceanic crust (see e.g., Ribando, et al. 1976) which is in turn coupled with a convection process in the overlying sediment layer (Anderson 1980, Anderson, et al. 1979). The introduction of a local heat source, such as a waste canister, into a saturated sediment layer would by itself initiate a convection process due to buoyancy forces. Since the mathematical description of natural convection in a porous medium is of sufficient complexity to preclude the use of most analytic methods of analysis, approximate numerical procedures are often employed. In the following sections, a particular type of numerical method is described that has proved useful in the solution of a variety of porous flow problems. However, rather than concentrate on the details of the numerical algorithm the main emphasis of the presentation will be on the types of problems and results that are encountered in the areas of oceanic heat flow and seabed waste disposal. (ERA citation 05:018471)