Author(s): Yoshiki Kawano; Tetsuya Ohashi
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Development of sea ice microstructure; Salinity condensation; Brine region; Voronoi dynamics technique
Abstract: We simulate numerically the process of development of sea ice polycrystals in super cooled sea water in 2-dimensional approximation by using a new technique, named Voronoi dynamics. In the Voronoi dynamics technique, we assume a sample domain and the domain is divided into small cells and kernels of ice crystals are introduced. Growth and impingement of crystal grains during a short period of time are evaluated numerically and formations of ice microstructure are simulated by repeating this process. Condensation of salinity and formation of brine region is introduced into the simulation in the way that the salinity of a liquid region surrounded by solidified region changes in a manner inversely proportional to the volume of the liquid region. The obtained results in this simulation show similar microstructures and brine distribution to the ones observed in real sea ice.
Year: 2006