Physics of Convection in a Porous Slab: Lateral Heat Extraction from Under a Thermal Blanket and the Formation ofHot Plumes

这是一项进行以下实验室研究的建议： 海洋地壳中的热液对流 两个单独 实验提出。 实验（1）是对一个 在美国国家科学基金会的支持下进行了一项实验， 填充玻璃珠以模拟多孔介质， 维持在温差和对流模式下 被允许发展。在所提出的实验（1）中， 实验装置基本相同，除了上部 边界被修改，以便它的一部分允许更大的分数 热对流的热量逃逸。该实验装置 模拟高渗透性岩石露头的效果 被一层厚厚的不透水的沉积物所包围， 通过海底的对流热传递模式。在 实验（2）开发了一种新的装置， 高瑞利数对流的可视化 裂缝/多孔介质 这些类型的研究对于 对海底热传递的理解。 的 程序认为实验（2）的优先级高于 (1)并且已经通知了PI

This is a proposal to perform a laboratory study of hydrothermal convection in the oceanic crust. Two separate experiments are proposed. Experiment (1) is a follow up on an experiment undertaken with NSF support in which a large tank, filled with glass beads to simulate a porous medium, was maintained at a differential temperature and a convection pattern was allowed to develop. In the proposed experiment (1) the experimental set up is essentially the same except that the upper boundary is modified so that part of it allows a greater fraction of the thermally convected heat to escape. This experimental set up is to simulate the effects of a highly permeable rock outcrop surrounded by a thick blanket of impermeable sediment on the pattern of convective heat transfer through the ocean floor. In experiment (2) a new apparatus is developed that will enable the visualization of high Rayleigh number convection in a fractured/porous medium. These types of studies are important to the understanding of heat transfer through the seafloor. The program considers experiment (2) to be of greater priority than (1) and that has been communicated to the PI.