Fluid Dynamics Experiments for Planetary Interiors

Michael Le Bars (1) , Ankit Barik (2) , Fabian Burmann (3) , Daniel Lathrop (4) , Jerome Noir (3) , Nathanael Schaeffer (5) , Santiago Triana (6)

1 IRPHE - Institut de Recherche sur les Phénomènes Hors Equilibre
2 JHU - Johns Hopkins University
3 ETH Zürich - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich]
4 University of Maryland [College Park]
5 ISTerre - Institut des Sciences de la Terre
6 ROB - Royal Observatory of Belgium = Observatoire Royal de Belgique

Understanding fluid flows in planetary cores and subsurface oceans, as well as their signatures in available observational data (gravity, magnetism, rotation, etc.), is a tremendous interdisciplinary challenge. In particular, it requires understanding the fundamental fluid dynamics involving turbulence and rotation at typical scales well beyond our day-to-day experience. To do so, laboratory experiments are fully complementary to numerical simulations, especially in systematically exploring extreme flow regimes for long duration. In this review article, we present some illustrative examples where experimental approaches, complemented by theoretical and numerical studies, have been key for a better understanding of planetary interior flows driven by some type of mechanical forcing. We successively address the dynamics of flows driven by precession, by libration, by differential rotation, and by boundary topography.

Mots clés: Planetary cores; Subsurface oceans; Rotational fluid dynamics; Waves; Instabilities; Turbulence

Domaines: Sciences de la Terre; Physique [physics]

Michael Le Bars, Ankit Barik, Fabian Burmann, Daniel Lathrop, Jerome Noir, et al.. Fluid Dynamics Experiments for Planetary Interiors. Surveys in Geophysics, 2021, ⟨10.1007/s10712-021-09681-1⟩. ⟨hal-03479247⟩