Continuum Mechanics In Environmental Sciences And Geophysics

Modern continuum mechanics is the topic of this book. After its introduction it will be applied to a few typical systems arising in the environmental sciences and in geophysics. In large lake/ocean dynamics peculiar effects of the rotation of the Earth will be analyzed in linear/nonlinear processes of a homogenous and inhomogenous water body. Strong thermomechanical coupling paired with nonlinear rheology affects the flow of large ice sheets (such as Antarctica and Greenland) and ice shelves. Its response to the climatic forcing in an environmental of greenhouse warming may significantly affect the life of future generations. The mechanical behavior of granular materials under quasistatic loadings requires non-classical mixture concepts and encounters generally complicated elastic-plastic-type constitutive behavior. Creeping flow of soils, consolidation processes and ground water flow are described by such theories. Rapid shearing flow of granular materials lead to constitutive relations for the stresses which incorporate rate independent behavior of Mohr-Coulomb type together with dispersive stress contributions due to particle collisions. Rockfalls, sturzstroms, snow and ice avalanches, but also debris flow and sea ice drifting can be described with such formulations.

The topics covered include soil mechanics and porous media, glacier and ice dynamics, climatology and lake physics, climate change as well as numerical algorithms. The book, written by well-known experts, addresses researchers and students interested in physical aspects of our environment.

The study of the Earth and the environment requires an understanding of the physical processes within and at the surface of the Earth. This book will allow the student to develop a broad working knowledge of mechanics and its application to the earth and environmental sciences. The mathematics are introduced at a level that assumes only an understanding of first-year calculus. The concepts are then developed to allow an understanding of the basic physics for a wide range of natural processes. These are illustrated by examples from many real situations, such as the application of the theory of flow through porous media to the study of groundwater, the viscosity of fluids to the flow of lava, and the theory of stress to the study of faults. The breadth of topics will allow students and professionals to gain an insight into the workings of many aspects of the Earth's systems.

Continuum mechanics underlies many geological and geophysical phenomena, from earthquakes and faults to the fluid dynamics of the Earth. This interdisciplinary book provides geoscientists, physicists and applied mathematicians with a class-tested, accessible overview of continuum mechanics. Starting from thermodynamic principles and geometrical insights, the book surveys solid, fluid and gas dynamics. In later review chapters, it explores new aspects of the field emerging from nonlinearity and dynamical complexity and provides a brief introduction to computational modeling. Simple, yet rigorous, derivations are used to review the essential mathematics. The author emphasizes the full three-dimensional geometries of real-world examples, enabling students to apply this in deconstructing solid earth and planet-related problems. Problem sets and worked examples are provided, making this a practical resource for graduate students in geophysics, planetary physics and geology and a beneficial tool for professional scientists seeking a better understanding of the mathematics and physics within Earth sciences.

The book unifies classical continuum mechanics and turbulence modeling, i.e. the same fundamental concepts are used to derive model equations for material behaviour and turbulence closure and complements these with methods of dimensional analysis. The intention is to equip the reader with the ability to understand the complex nonlinear modeling in material behaviour and turbulence closure as well as to derive or invent his own models. Examples are mostly taken from environmental physics and geophysics.

The book contains invited lectures and selected contributions presented at the Enzo Levi and XVII Annual Meeting of the Fluid Dynamic Division of the Mexican Physical Society in 2011. It is aimed to fourth year undergraduate and graduate students, and scientists in the field of physics, engineering and chemistry that have interest in Fluid Dynamics from the experimental and theoretical point of view. The invited lectures are introductory and avoid the use of complicate mathematics. The other selected contributions are also adequate to fourth year undergraduate and graduate students. The Fluid Dynamics applications include multiphase flow, convection, diffusion, heat transfer, rheology, granular material, viscous flow, porous media flow, geophysics and astrophysics. The material contained in the book includes recent advances in experimental and theoretical fluid dynamics and is adequate for both teaching and research.

Fluids play an important role in environmental systems appearing as surface water in rivers, lakes, and coastal regions or in the subsurface as well as in the atmosphere. Mechanics of environmental fluids is concerned with fluid motion, associated mass and heat transport as well as deformation processes in subsurface systems. In this reference work the fundamental modelling approaches based on continuum mechanics for fluids in the environment are described, including porous media and turbulence. Numerical methods for solving the process governing equations as well as its object-oriented computer implementation are discussed and illustrated with examples. Finally, the application of computer models in civil and environmental engineering is demonstrated.

This book introduces the basic concepts of environmental fluid dynamics. It is intended for use by students, researchers, engineers, and specialists working not only in general fluid research but also in the atmospheric and oceanic research fields. The Earth is covered by atmosphere and oceans and is exposed to solar wind. Therefore, the knowledge of fluid dynamics is essential for tackling its environmental issues. Although many textbooks have treated fluid dynamics, practically no book has been published that clearly describes all essential ideas, from the fundamentals of fluid dynamics to advanced environmental sciences, with careful sequential explanations of the governing mathematics. This book has been developed to solve these educational problems and has actually been in use in lectures in the graduate school of Kyushu University for more than 15 years.