Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Butler, Karen A..
Program verified by comparisons with both experimental and numerical studies. GEOSIM implements numerical model simulating geophysical fluid flow for wide range of problems. Allows for more accurate control over experimental conditions and provides complete data source for performing diagnostic studies. Used by experienced and/or professional fluid dynamicists. Written in FORTRAN 77.
A series of numerical experiments is conducted for rotating annulus flow using Miller et al.'s (1992) Geophysical Flow Simulation (GFS) model; a mixture of 25-percent upwind-differencing and 75-percent center-differencing is employed to approximate the temperature advective terms. Attention is given to the wavenumber selection time and wavenumber regimes, the sensitivity in the wavenumber transition regions, and hysteresis and irregular wavenumber selections.
Finite difference in time and the meridional plane, in conjunction with a spectral technique in the azimuthal direction, are used to approximate the Navier-Stokes equations in a model that can simulate a variety of thermally driven rotating flows in cylindrical and spherical geometries. Axisymmetric flow, linearized waves relative to a fixed or changing axisymmetric flow, nonlinear waves without wave-wave interaction, and fully nonlinear 3D flow, can in this way be calculated. A reexamination is conducted of the steady baroclinic wave case previously treated by Williams (1971) and Quon (1976).
A numerical model is employed to establish the transitions between axisymmetric flow and wave flow in the rotating, differentially heated annulus experiments of Fein for both rigid lid and free surface cases. It is shown that, for most of the transitions, the method of computing a steady axisymmetric flow and then testing its linear stability to wave disturbance results in good agreement with the experiments. Implications for the investigation of the dynamics of the earth's atmosphere are considered.
A numerical model which simulates geophysical fluid flow in a wide range of problems is described in detail, and comparisons of some of the model's results are made with previous experimental and numerical studies. The model is based upon the Boussinesq Navier-Stokes equations in spherical coordinates, which can be reduced to a cylindrical system when latitudinal walls are used near the pole and the ratio of latitudinal length to the radius of the sphere is small. The equations are approximated by finite differences in the meridional plane and spectral decomposition in the azimuthal direction. The user can specify a variety of boundary and initial conditions, and there are five different spectral truncation options. The results of five validation cases are presented: (1) the transition between axisymmetric flow and baroclinic wave flow in the side heated annulus; (2) the steady baroclinic wave of the side heated annulus; (3) the wave amplitude vacillation of the side heated annulus; (4) transition to baroclinic wave flow in a bottom heated annulus; and (5) the Spacelab Geophysical Fluid Flow Cell (spherical) experiment.