Simulation of two-dimensional lunar mantle temperature evolution with finite element method
LIU Jiaxing1, ZHONG Zhen2,3*, LIU Gaofu1
(1 School of Physics and Electronic Science, Guizhou Normal College, Guiyang 550018, Guizhou, China;2 School of Physics and Electronic Science, Guizhou Normal University;3 NAOC-GZNU Center for Astronomy Research and Education, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, Guizhou, China)
Abstract:
To study the thermal evolution of the moon,the lunar mantle temperature was simulated with two-dimensional finite element method in the polar coordinate system. The governing equations for the dynamics are dimensionless, and Boussinesq approximation is adopted as well.The results indicate that several large-scale hot plumes, resulted from the hot lunar mantle, appear in the initial stage. These unstable plumes release lots of energy, subsequently their temperature drops hugely. The average temperature of the lunar mantle eventually drops from 1 735 K to 1 278 K.Numerical results implies the feasibility of our model and code, which can be extended in three-dimensions to predict the temperature evolution of the Moon with the combination of other geophysical data such as lunar surface heat flux.
KeyWords:
accretion; thermal evolution; governing equation; weak form
