Simulations of Three-Dimensional Buoyant Laminar Plumes in a Martian Environment

Abstract

Natural convection in laminar martian plumes is investigated numerically for the cases of two interacting area source plumes in a quiescent environment and of a single plume in a crossflow. This article deals specifically with environmental conditions typically seen on Mars (Ga = 2.02 × 10⁵, Ec = 4.35 × 10⁻⁵, and Pr = 0.874). Resulting parametric studies provide detailed information on the importance that certain readily measurable variables have on the dimensionless temperature difference, Θ, and provide correlations for the magnitude and location of the maximum local temperature in the plume for two interacting plumes and a single plume in a crossflow.

Acknowledgments

Funding from the Canadian Space Agency is gratefully acknowledged.