NSF-BSF: Multiphase transport processes with phase change in stratified hypersaline lakes: A combined computational and field investigation

地壳中蕴藏着大量厚达一公里的大型盐矿。这些矿藏对于工程应用，如矿物开采和石油和天然气勘探，以及对了解贯穿地球历史的海洋管理过程都非常重要。然而，这些大型盐矿的形成和结构目前还知之甚少。今天，死海是世界上唯一一个盐晶体形成并在海底形成不断增长的沉积物的深水湖。这种动态的环境为探索形成这种盐矿的具有相变的多相输送过程提供了一个独特的天然实验室。该项目将进行一项全面的调查，将以色列地质调查局的广泛实地活动与加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的详细大规模计算机模拟和理论分析相结合。这项研究将在环境模型开发、计算多相流体动力学和并行计算机体系结构的大规模模拟等跨学科领域培训美国工程学和地质学专业的学生。UCSB和死海天文台之间将进行学生交流，调查人员将在这两个机构举办系列讲座。计划举办一次关于管理死海的实物运输过程的国际讲习班。这个项目将探索和量化热和盐的对流和扩散输送的非线性相互作用。该项目将探讨(1)湖内溶解盐和结晶盐之间的相变；(2)湖面的辐射加热/冷却、蒸发/盐排除和风应力；以及(3)淡水、沉积物和/或盐水的流入是如何调节这种输送的。将确定控制无量纲参数，以及适用于死海的量化范围，以及控制动态的相应平衡。通过这种方式，该项目将获得这些过程的定量准确的比例定律，并能够预测在各种不同环境作用力下死海的演变。结果将为水资源管理提供预测工具，并为推进采矿和碳氢化合物勘探相关技术提供有用信息。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Earth's crust contains numerous large-scale salt deposits that are up to a kilometer thick. These deposits are of great importance for engineering applications such as mineral extraction and oil and gas exploration, and for understanding the processes that have governed the oceans throughout Earth's history. However, the formation and structure of these large salt deposits are at present poorly understood. Today, the Dead Sea is the only deep lake in the world in which salt crystals form and create a growing deposit on the seafloor. This dynamic environment provides a unique natural laboratory for exploring the multiphase transport processes with phase change that create such salt deposits. This project will undertake a comprehensive investigation that combines an extensive field campaign by the Geological Survey of Israel with detailed large-scale computer simulations and theoretical analysis at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The research will train US engineering and geology students in the interdisciplinary areas of environmental model development, computational multiphase fluid dynamics, and large-scale simulations on parallel computer architectures. Student exchanges will take place between UCSB and the Dead Sea Observatory, and the investigators will hold lecture series at both institutions. An international workshop on the physical transport processes governing the Dead Sea is planned. This project will explore and quantify the nonlinear interplay of the convective and diffusive transport of heat and salt. The project will explore how this transport is modulated by (1) phase change between dissolved and crystalline salt within the lake; (2) radiative heating/cooling, evaporation/salt rejection and wind stresses at the lake's surface; and (3) inflow of freshwater, sediment and/or brine. The governing dimensionless parameters will be identified, along with the quantitative ranges that apply to the Dead Sea, and the respective balances that govern the dynamics. In this way, the project will obtain quantitatively accurate scaling laws for these processes, and enable predictions for the evolution of the Dead Sea under a variety of different environmental forcings. Results will provide a predictive tool for managing water resources and useful information for advancing technologies related to mining and hydrocarbon exploration.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.