695 research outputs found
Collisionless solar wind protons: A comparison of kinetic and hydrodynamic descriptions
Kinetic and hydrodynamic descriptions of a collisionless solar wind proton gas are compared. Heat conduction and viscosity are neglected in the hydrodynamic formulation but automatically included in the kinetic formulation. The results of the two models are very nearly the same, indicating that heat conduction and viscosity are not important in the solar wind proton gas beyond about 0.1 AU. It is concluded that the hydrodynamic equations provide a valid description of the collisionless solar wind protons, and hence that future models of the quiet solar wind should be based on a hydrodynamic formulation
A multi-dimensional, adiabatic, hydrodynamics code for studying tidal excitation
We have developed a parallel, simple, and fast hydrodynamics code for
multi-dimensional, self-gravitating, adiabatic flows. Our primary motivation is
the study of the non-linear evolution of white dwarf oscillations excited via
tidal resonances, typically over hundreds of stellar dynamical times.
Consequently, we require long term stability, low diffusivity, and high
algorithmic efficiency. An explicit, Eulerian, finite-difference scheme on a
regular Cartesian grid fulfills these requirements. It provides uniform
resolution throughout the flow, as well as simplifying the computation of the
self-gravitational potential, which is done via spectral methods. In this
paper, we describe the numerical scheme and present the results of some
diagnostic problems. We also demonstrate the stability of a cold white dwarf in
three dimensions over hundreds of dynamical times. Finally, we compare the
results of the numerical scheme to the linear theory of adiabatic oscillations,
finding numerical quality factors on the order of 6000, and excellent agreement
with the oscillation frequency obtained by the linear analysis.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
Secondary circulations in the bottom boundary layer over sedimentary furrows
Secondary circulation is known to be an important feature of many atmospheric and laboratory boundary layers. The presence of streamwise, helical, counterrotating vortices is documented here for the first time in the bottom boundary layer of a large natural body of water. Simultaneous vertical profiles of velocity and temperature were recorded on either side of a sedimentary furrow on the floor of Lake Superior (depth = 100 m) in November 1985. Flow roughness length zo was estimated to be 0.3 cm. Friction velocity u* and turbulent boundary layer thickness LW were estimated for each profile allowing for stratification effects. Typically, LW ≈ 10 m. Thermal stratification near the lake bed was an important constraint to boundary layer development; bottom mixed layers were absent in most cases. Mean flow toward the furrow at lower levels within the boundary layer (z/LW\u3c0.37) and mean flow away from the furrow at higher levels (0.37 \u3c z/LW \u3c 1.65) were observed for near‐bottom speeds greater than 6 cm/s when mean flow direction was within 25° of the furrow direction. This implies helical vortex pair circulations with upward motion over the furrow, consistent with earlier hypotheses. Cross‐stream (secondary) flows were typically 5% of the free stream (primary flow) speed. Streamwise vorticity in the range 1.5 m ≤ z ≤ 5 m was estimated to be 2.1×10−3 s−1
It's a wonderful tail: the mass loss history of Mira
Recent observations of the Mira AB binary system have revealed a surrounding
arc-like structure and a stream of material stretching 2 degrees away in
opposition to the arc. The alignment of the proper motion vector and the
arc-like structure shows the structures to be a bow shock and accompanying
tail. We have successfully hydrodynamically modelled the bow shock and tail as
the interaction between the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) wind launched from
Mira A and the surrounding interstellar medium. Our simulations show that the
wake behind the bow shock is turbulent: this forms periodic density variations
in the tail similar to those observed. We investigate the possiblity of
mass-loss variations, but find that these have limited effect on the tail
structure. The tail is estimated to be approximately 450,000 years old, and is
moving with a velocity close to that of Mira itself. We suggest that the
duration of the high mass-loss phase on the AGB may have been underestimated.
Finally, both the tail curvature and the rebrightening at large distance can be
qualitatively understood if Mira recently entered the Local Bubble. This is
estimated to have occured 17 pc downstream from its current location.Comment: 12 pages, 3 colour figures, accepted by ApJ Part II (Letters
Dispersive wave runup on non-uniform shores
Historically the finite volume methods have been developed for the numerical
integration of conservation laws. In this study we present some recent results
on the application of such schemes to dispersive PDEs. Namely, we solve
numerically a representative of Boussinesq type equations in view of important
applications to the coastal hydrodynamics. Numerical results of the runup of a
moderate wave onto a non-uniform beach are presented along with great lines of
the employed numerical method (see D. Dutykh et al. (2011) for more details).Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 18 references. This preprint is submitted to
FVCA6 conference proceedings. Other author papers can be downloaded at
http://www.lama.univ-savoie.fr/~dutykh
Athena: A New Code for Astrophysical MHD
A new code for astrophysical magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is described. The
code has been designed to be easily extensible for use with static and adaptive
mesh refinement. It combines higher-order Godunov methods with the constrained
transport (CT) technique to enforce the divergence-free constraint on the
magnetic field. Discretization is based on cell-centered volume-averages for
mass, momentum, and energy, and face-centered area-averages for the magnetic
field. Novel features of the algorithm include (1) a consistent framework for
computing the time- and edge-averaged electric fields used by CT to evolve the
magnetic field from the time- and area-averaged Godunov fluxes, (2) the
extension to MHD of spatial reconstruction schemes that involve a
dimensionally-split time advance, and (3) the extension to MHD of two different
dimensionally-unsplit integration methods. Implementation of the algorithm in
both C and Fortran95 is detailed, including strategies for parallelization
using domain decomposition. Results from a test suite which includes problems
in one-, two-, and three-dimensions for both hydrodynamics and MHD are given,
not only to demonstrate the fidelity of the algorithms, but also to enable
comparisons to other methods. The source code is freely available for download
on the web.Comment: 61 pages, 36 figures. accepted by ApJ
Recommended from our members
Observation and analysis of in situ carbonaceous matter in Nakhla: part II
Analysis of in situ carbonaceous matter in the Nakhla SNC meteorite has been carried out using a variety of techniques. Laser raman data shows the carbonaceous matter to be highly complex and static mass spectrometry has shown it to have an isotopic composition of '18 to '20' C
Presentation of the Comprehensive Vocal Rehabilitation Program for the treatment of behavioral dysphonia
Numerical simulations of the Accretion-Ejection Instability in magnetised accretion disks
The Accretion-Ejection Instability (AEI) described by Tagger & Pellat (1999)
is explored numerically using a global 2d model of the inner region of a
magnetised accretion disk. The disk is initially currentless but threaded by a
vertical magnetic field created by external currents, and frozen in the flow.
In agreement with the theory a spiral instability, similar in many ways to
those observed in self-gravitating disks, develops when the magnetic field is,
within a factor of a few, at equipartition with the disk thermal pressure.
Perturbations in the flow build up currents and create a perturbed magnetic
field within the disk. The present non-linear simulations give good evidence
that such an instability can occur in the inner region of accretion disks, and
generate accretion of gas and vertical magnetic flux toward the central object,
if the equilibrium radial profiles of density and magnetic flux exceed a
critical threshold.Comment: single tar file with GIF figure
An Euler Solver Based on Locally Adaptive Discrete Velocities
A new discrete-velocity model is presented to solve the three-dimensional
Euler equations. The velocities in the model are of an adaptive nature---both
the origin of the discrete-velocity space and the magnitudes of the
discrete-velocities are dependent on the local flow--- and are used in a finite
volume context. The numerical implementation of the model follows the
near-equilibrium flow method of Nadiga and Pullin [1] and results in a scheme
which is second order in space (in the smooth regions and between first and
second order at discontinuities) and second order in time. (The
three-dimensional code is included.) For one choice of the scaling between the
magnitude of the discrete-velocities and the local internal energy of the flow,
the method reduces to a flux-splitting scheme based on characteristics. As a
preliminary exercise, the result of the Sod shock-tube simulation is compared
to the exact solution.Comment: 17 pages including 2 figures and CMFortran code listing. All in one
postscript file (adv.ps) compressed and uuencoded (adv.uu). Name mail file
`adv.uu'. Edit so that `#!/bin/csh -f' is the first line of adv.uu On a unix
machine say `csh adv.uu'. On a non-unix machine: uudecode adv.uu; uncompress
adv.tar.Z; tar -xvf adv.ta
- …