Response of saturated and nearly saturated porous media: Different formulations and their applicability

The response of saturated porous medium is of significant interest in many fields ranging from geomechanics to biomechanics. Biot was the first to formulate the basic equations governing the process of coupled flow and deformation in porous media. Depending on the nature of loading vis‐à‐vis the characteristics of the media, different formulations (fully dynamic, partly dynamic, quasi‐static) are possible. In this study, analytical solutions are developed for the response of saturated and nearly saturated porous media under plane strain condition. The solutions for different formulations are developed in terms of non‐dimensional parameters. The response is studied for various conditions and the regions of validity for various formulations are identified in a parametric space. An assessment of the needed formulation for few important problems is also presented. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Possible configurations of the magnetic field in the outer magnetosphere during geomagnetic polarity reversals

Possible configurations of the magnetic field in the outer magnetosphere during geomagnetic polarity reversals are investigated by considering the idealized problem of a magnetic multipole of order m and degree n located at the centre of a spherical cavity surrounded by a boundless perfect diamagnetic medium. In this illustrative idealization, the fixed spherical (magnetopause) boundary layer behaves as a perfectly conducting surface that shields the external diamagnetic medium from the compressed multipole magnetic field, which is therefore confined within the spherical cavity. For a general magnetic multipole of degree n, the non-radial components of magnetic induction just inside the magnetopause are increased by the factor 1 + [(n + 1)/n] relative to their corresponding values in the absence of the perfectly conducting spherical magnetopause. An exact equation is derived for the magnetic field lines of an individual zonal (m = 0), or axisymmetric, magnetic multipole of arbitrary degree n located at the centre of the magnetospheric cavity. For such a zonal magnetic multipole, there are always two neutral points and n – 1 neutral rings on the spherical magnetopause surface. The two neutral points are located at the poles of the spherical magnetopause. If n is even, one of the neutral rings is coincident with the equator; otherwise, the neutral rings are located symmetrically with respect to the equator. The actual existence of idealized higher-degree (n > 1) axisymmetric magnetospheres would necessarily imply multiple (n + 1) magnetospheric cusps and multiple (n) ring currents. Exact equations are also derived for the magnetic field lines of an individual non-axisymmetric magnetic multipole, confined by a perfectly conducting spherical magnetopause, in two special cases; namely, a symmetric sectorial multipole (m = n) and an antisymmetric sectorial multipole (m = n – 1). For both these non-axisymmetric magnetic multipoles, there exists on the spherical magnetopause surface a set of neutral points linked by a network of magnetic field lines. Novel magnetospheric processes are likely to arise from the existence of magnetic neutral lines that extend from the magnetopause to the surface of the Earth. Finally, magnetic field lines that are confined to, or perpendicular to, either special meridional planes or the equatorial plane, when the multipole is in free space, continue to be confined to, or perpendicular to, these same planes when the perfectly conducting magnetopause is present.Also Honorary Research Associate, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK and Visiting Reader in Physics. University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK     

地壳内的岩浆动力学过程及其资源与环境效应SCIEI北大核心CSCD

岩浆是将地球内部物质传送到表层系统的主要载体,并造成显著的资源聚集和环境效应。岩浆动力学是研究岩浆的迁移、储存、演化、就位以及喷发过程,侧重物理机制。这些岩浆过程主要发生在岩浆通道系统中,包括岩浆储库和岩浆管道。本文对目前国际岩浆动力学领域一些热点和前沿进行了介绍,这包括从岩浆房到岩浆储库概念的转变、岩浆储库的生长和动力学演化过程、岩浆过程的时间尺度以及岩浆中晶体的生长。然后阐述了岩浆中挥发分的种类和溶解度、获取天然岩浆挥发分含量的方法、一些典型镁铁质岩浆中的挥发分含量、岩浆去气的化学和物理机制,并简要梳理了热液金属矿床的形成过程和岩浆挥发分进入地表圈层系统引发的环境气候效应。最后列举了一些岩浆动力学有关的重要科学问题并建议了进一步的研究方向。     

湿斜压大气中暴雨中尺度系统发展的一种可能机制

根据暴雨中尺度系统发生时的大气运动特征,在绝热、无摩擦条件下,从湿斜压原始方程出发,考虑大气运动的涡度及散度演化不仅受动力场的制约,而且还受到热力场的约束,采用不同于传统研究涡度及散度方程的分析方法,导出了新形式的涡度及散度方程。在此基础上,分析了湿斜压大气中对流层中低层气流旋转与辐合持续增长的动力特征,初步揭示了湿斜压大气中暴雨中尺度系统发展的动力机制。     

臭氧和平流层动力学的相互作用

讨论了给定的南极春季臭氧洞(取自1979—1985年臭氧减少的观测结果)对二维平流层—对流层模式中温度和环流的影响。11月份,南极上空约17km处,温度最多可降低6℃。这种温度变化引起的平均经向环流对臭氧洞起填塞作用,不过,这种影响很小,每年仅产生14DU的变化。观测事实表明,近年来10月份,南半球波活动减弱。为此,我们作了南半球波作用全年都减少一半,并考虑了臭氧洞的数值试验。结果表明,臭氧柱在11月份76°S减少了44DU,在赤道却增加了12DU。     

基于NLCCA的中国夏季降水与东亚夏季风关系的探讨

运用一种基于人工神经网络的非线性典型相关分析方法(NLCCA),对中国夏季降水与东亚夏季风之间的非线性关系进行了分析。结果表明,夏季降水对东亚夏季风的响应具有一定的非线性,当夏季风较强与较弱时,对应的中国夏季降水异常分布呈现明显的不对称性。夏季降水与夏季风之间的关系可分离为线性响应和非线性响应,其中非线性响应部分占总方差贡献的52.1%,说明我国夏季降水异常分布与东亚夏季风相互之间的关系既有线性特征也有非线性特征,非线性响应略显重要。     

青藏高原大陆动力学研究若干进展

近10年来,"大陆构造与动力学实验室"在青藏高原大陆动力学研究,尤其在特提斯演化和青藏高原生长方面取得若干进展,包括(1)"青藏高原——造山的高原"理念的提出;(2)青藏高原特提斯体制和构造格架的再造;(3)新特提斯蛇绿岩中原位金刚石和深地幔矿物群的重大发现;(4)新特提斯洋盆俯冲新机制的揭示;(5)印度/亚洲碰撞的早期岩浆和喜马拉雅折返中的作用;(6)喜马拉雅三维碰撞造山机制和折返全过程的初步建立;(7)青藏高原东南缘物质逃逸的新机制——"弯曲与地壳解耦"的提出;(8)青藏高原俯冲型、碰撞型及陆内型片麻岩穹窿;(9)青藏高原东缘汶川强震的构造背景和强震机制;(10)青藏高原碰撞造山成矿模式;(11)印度/亚洲碰撞过程的数值模拟。综述和集成上述成果是为了与同行们交流磋商,进一步共同发展青藏高原大陆动力学理论,向国际地学前沿的冲刺。     

Can gas dynamics in centres of galaxies reveal orbiting massive black holes?

If supermassive black holes in centres of galaxies form by merging of black hole remnants of massive Population III stars, then there should be a few black holes of mass one or two orders of magnitude smaller than that of the central ones, orbiting around the centre of a typical galaxy. These black holes constitute a weak perturbation in the gravitational potential, which can generate wave phenomena in gas within a disc close to the centre of the galaxy. Here, we show that a single orbiting black hole generates a three-arm spiral pattern in the central gaseous disc. The density excess in the spiral arms in the disc reaches values of 3–12 per cent when the orbiting black hole is about 10 times less massive than the central black hole. Therefore, the observed density pattern in gas can be used as a signature in detecting the most massive orbiting black holes.     

Self-consistent response of a galactic disc to vertical perturbations

We study the self-consistent, linear response of a galactic disc to vertical perturbations, as induced, say, by a tidal interaction. We calculate the self-gravitational potential corresponding to a non-axisymmetric, self-consistent density response of the disc using the Green's function method. The response potential is shown to oppose the perturbation potential because the self-gravity of the disc resists the imposed potential, and this resistance is stronger in the inner parts of a galactic disc. For the   m = 1  azimuthal wavenumber, the disc response opposes the imposed perturbation up to a radius that spans a range of 4–6 disc scalelengths, so that the disc shows a net warp only beyond this region. This physically explains the well known but so far unexplained observation that warps typically set in beyond this range of radii. We show that the inclusion of a dark matter halo in the calculation only marginally changes (by ∼10 per cent) the radius for the onset of warps. For perturbations with higher azimuthal wavenumbers, the net signature of the vertical perturbations can only be seen at larger radii – for example, beyond 7 exponential disc scalelengths for   m = 10  . Also, for the high- m cases, the magnitude of the negative disc response due to the disc self-gravity is much smaller. This is shown to result in corrugations of the mid-plane density, which explains the puzzling scalloping with   m = 10  detected in H  i in the outermost regions ∼30 kpc in the Galaxy.