We performed large eddy simulation of the flow over a series of two- and three-dimensional dune geometries at laboratory scale using the Lagrangian dynamic eddy-viscosity subgrid-scale model. First, we studied the flow over a standard 2D transverse dune geometry, then bedform three-dimensionality was imposed. Finally, we investigated the turbulent flow over barchan dunes. The results are validated by comparison with simulations and experiments for the 2D dune case, while the results of the 3D dunes are validated qualitatively against experiments. The flow over transverse dunes separates at the dune crest, generating a shear layer that plays a crucial role in the transport of momentum and energy, as well as the generation of coherent structures. Spanwise vortices are generated in the separated shear; as they are advected, they undergo lateral instabilities and develop into horseshoe-like structures and finally reach the surface. The ejection that occurs between the legs of the vortex creates the upwelling and downdrafting events on the free surface known as “boils”. The three-dimensional separation of flow at the crestline alters the distribution of wall pressure, which may cause secondary flow across the stream. The mean flow is characterized by a pair of counter-rotating streamwise vortices, with core radii of the order of the flow depth. Staggering the crestlines alters the secondary motion; two pairs of streamwise vortices appear (a strong one, centred about the lobe, and a weaker one, coming from the previous dune, centred around the saddle). The flow over barchan dunes presents significant differences to that over transverse dunes. The flow near the bed, upstream of the dune, diverges from the centerline plane; the flow close to the centerline plane separates at the crest and reattaches on the bed. Away from the centerline plane and along the horns, flow separation occurs intermittently. The flow in the separation bubble is routed towards the horns and leaves the dune at the tips. Barchan dunes induce two counter-rotating streamwise vortices, along each of the horns, which direct high-momentum fluid toward the symmetry plane and low-momentum fluid near the bed away from the centerline. / Thesis (Ph.D, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-05-27 18:58:48.969

Cette thèse expérimentale traite du transport sédimentaire provoqué par un fluide (généralement l’air ou l’eau) s’écoulant sur un matériau érodable (lit de sable par exemple) et lui transmettant une force suffisante pour soulever les particules solides et les emporter avec lui en aval. Ici, on se focalise uniquement sur le charriage aquatique : dans ce mode de transport, les grains en mouvement roulent les uns sur les autres, glissent, effectuent une succession de bonds et d’arrêts tout en restant confinés près du fond. On réalise différents types d’expériences dans un canal de laboratoire avec, à chaque fois, plusieurs types de grains (3 tailles, 2 densités) afin d’étudier en détails le charriage sous l’eau. Tout d’abord, on s’intéresse aux trajectoires de grains isolés transportés sur le fond plat et lisse du canal. Alors que les écoulements sont pour la plupart hydrauliquement lisses (les grains sont immergés dans la sous-couche visqueuse), on montre que la turbulence proche paroi impacte fortement la dynamique des grains. Les données accumulées permettent d’estimer les moyennes et les dispersions de la vitesse des particules ainsi que de construire les fonctions de densité de probabilité. On compare ces résultats avec ceux obtenus par Vélocimétrie Laser Doppler (VLD) concernant l’écoulement fluide proche du fond. Dans un second temps, on quantifie le transport par la mesure de la quantité de sédiments charriés sur des lits plats pour différentes contraintes de cisaillement. L’idée qui motive ces expériences est la détermination empirique de la loi de transport(la relation entre le flux de grains et le cisaillement) pour notre configuration expérimentale. Nos résultats diffèrent assez largement des lois de transport habituelles du type Meyer-Peter et Müller et s’interprètent plus aisément dans le cadre des lois pour le charriage de faible intensité. Ensuite, une méthode de Profilométrie par Transformée de Fourier (PTF) est implémentée pour mesurer avec précision les surfaces 3D de petites dunes aquatiques (les barkhanes) et leur évolution au cours du temps. On s’intéresse, entre autres, à la formation des barkhanes, à leur morphologie, à leur vitesse de migration ainsi qu’au phénomène d’érosion. On apporte la preuve que les barkhanes aquatiques se déplacent sans se déformer et dès lors, on montre qu’il devient facile d’évaluer le flux de grains sur le dos des dunes (dans le plan de symétrie). Pour finir, on caractérise l’écoulement au-dessus d’une "maquette" de barkhane par VLD et on en déduit le cisaillement sur le dos de la dune (du pied à la crête). Ces mesures de cisaillement couplées aux lois de transport pour notre canal et aux résultats concernant les barkhanes obtenus par PTF nous permettent de discuter du phénomène de saturation du flux de grains. On estime la valeur de la longueur de saturation pour le charriage tout en restant prudent quant à la fiabilité de notre conclusion à ce sujet. / This experimental thesis deals with sediment transport induced by a fluid (air or water generally)flowing over an erodible bottom (sand bed for example) and providing a sufficiently high strengthto whip up solid particles and carry them downstream. Here, one focuses only on aquatic bedload: in this transport regime, moving grains roll, slip, jump or stop alternatively while staying confinedclose to the bed. We achieve different kinds of experiments in a laboratory flume involving everytime several grain types (3 sizes, 2 densities) in order to study underwater bedload in details. First,one considers trajectories of isolated beads transported over the flat and smooth bottom of theflume. Although the studied flows are hydraulically smooth (grains are fully embedded in theviscous sublayer), one shows that near wall turbulence highly impact grains dynamics. From ourdata, we extract mean particle velocities, standard deviations and also probability densityfunctions. One compares these results with those obtained by Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV)concerning the near wall fluid flow. Second, one quantifies the bedload by measuring the volumeof grains transported at the surface of flat granular beds for different shear stresses. The goal ofthese experiments is the empirical determination of the transport law (the relationship between thegranular flux and the fluid shear) for the present experimental configuration. Our results differsignificantly from usual transport laws like the one of Meyer-Peter and Müller and are bestunderstood within the framework of weak sediment transport. Then, one implements a FourierTransport Profilometry (FTP) method in order to measure with a good resolution the 3D surfacesof small aquatic dunes (called barchans) and their time evolution. One takes an interest in, amongothers, barchans formation, their morphology, their displacement velocity and the erosionphenomenon. One shows that subaquatic barchans move downstream without deforming and thusit becomes easier to estimate the granular flux on the back of the dunes (in the symmetry plane).Eventually, one characterizes the flow above a barchan "model" by LDV and deduces the shearstress along the dune’s back (from foot to crest). These shear stress measurements coupled withthe empirical transport laws and results concerning barchans obtained by FTP permit us todiscuss saturation effects of the granular flux. One estimates the saturation length for the bedloadand highlights that our conclusion on this point must be taken with care.

<p>The main conclusion of this dissertation is that global H2 production within young ocean crust (<10 Mya) is higher than currently recognized, in part because current estimates of H2 production accompanying the serpentinization of peridotite may be too low (Chapter 2) and in part because a number of abiogenic H2-producing processes have heretofore gone unquantified (Chapter 3). The importance of free H2 to a range of geochemical processes makes the quantitative understanding of H2 production advanced in this dissertation pertinent to an array of open research questions across the geosciences (e.g. the origin and evolution of life and the oxidation of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans).</p><p>The first component of this dissertation (Chapter 2) examines H2 produced within young ocean crust [e.g. near the mid-ocean ridge (MOR)] by serpentinization. In the presence of water, olivine-rich rocks (peridotites) undergo serpentinization (hydration) at temperatures of up to ~500°C but only produce H2 at temperatures up to ~350°C. A simple analytical model is presented that mechanistically ties the process to seafloor spreading and explicitly accounts for the importance of temperature in H2 formation. The model suggests that H2 production increases with the rate of seafloor spreading and the net thickness of serpentinized peridotite (S-P) in a column of lithosphere. The model is applied globally to the MOR using conservative estimates for the net thickness of lithospheric S-P, our least certain model input. Despite the large uncertainties surrounding the amount of serpentinized peridotite within oceanic crust, conservative model parameters suggest a magnitude of H2 production (~1012 moles H2/y) that is larger than the most widely cited previous estimates (~1011 although previous estimates range from 1010-1012 moles H2/y). Certain model relationships are also consistent with what has been established through field studies, for example that the highest H2 fluxes (moles H2/km2 seafloor) are produced near slower-spreading ridges (<20 mm/y). Other modeled relationships are new and represent testable predictions. Principal among these is that about half of the H2 produced globally is produced off-axis beneath faster-spreading seafloor (>20 mm/y), a region where only one measurement of H2 has been made thus far and is ripe for future investigation.</p><p>In the second part of this dissertation (Chapter 3), I construct the first budget for free H2 in young ocean crust that quantifies and compares all currently recognized H2 sources and H2 sinks. First global estimates of budget components are proposed in instances where previous estimate(s) could not be located provided that the literature on that specific budget component was not too sparse to do so. Results suggest that the nine known H2 sources, listed in order of quantitative importance, are: Crystallization (6x1012 moles H2/y or 61% of total H2 production), serpentinization (2x1012 moles H2/y or 21%), magmatic degassing (7x1011 moles H2/y or 7%), lava-seawater interaction (5x1011 moles H2/y or 5%), low-temperature alteration of basalt (5x1011 moles H2/y or 5%), high-temperature alteration of basalt (3x1010 moles H2/y or <1%), catalysis (3x108 moles H2/y or <<1%), radiolysis (2x108 moles H2/y or <<1%), and pyrite formation (3x106 moles H2/y or <<1%). Next we consider two well-known H2 sinks, H2 lost to the ocean and H2 occluded within rock minerals, and our analysis suggests that both are of similar size (both are 6x1011 moles H2/y). Budgeting results suggest a large difference between H2 sources (total production = 1x1013 moles H2/y) and H2 sinks (total losses = 1x1011 moles H2/y). Assuming this large difference represents H2 consumed by microbes (total consumption = 9x1011 moles H2/y), we explore rates of primary production by the chemosynthetic, sub-seafloor biosphere. Although the numbers presented require further examination and future modifications, the analysis suggests that the sub-seafloor H2 budget is similar to the sub-seafloor CH4 budget in the sense that globally significant quantities of both of these reduced gases are produced beneath the seafloor but never escape the seafloor due to microbial consumption.</p><p>The third and final component of this dissertation (Chapter 4) explores the self-organization of barchan sand dune fields. In nature, barchan dunes typically exist as members of larger dune fields that display striking, enigmatic structures that cannot be readily explained by examining the dynamics at the scale of single dunes, or by appealing to patterns in external forcing. To explore the possibility that observed structures emerge spontaneously as a collective result of many dunes interacting with each other, we built a numerical model that treats barchans as discrete entities that interact with one another according to simplified rules derived from theoretical and numerical work, and from field observations: Dunes exchange sand through the fluxes that leak from the downwind side of each dune and are captured on their upstream sides; when dunes become sufficiently large, small dunes are born on their downwind sides (“calving”); and when dunes collide directly enough, they merge. Results show that these relatively simple interactions provide potential explanations for a range of field-scale phenomena including isolated patches of dunes and heterogeneous arrangements of similarly sized dunes in denser fields. The results also suggest that (1) dune field characteristics depend on the sand flux fed into the upwind boundary, although (2) moving downwind, the system approaches a common attracting state in which the memory of the upwind conditions vanishes. This work supports the hypothesis that calving exerts a first order control on field-scale phenomena; it prevents individual dunes from growing without bound, as single-dune analyses suggest, and allows the formation of roughly realistic, persistent dune field patterns.</p> / Dissertation

L'étude de l'écoulement à l'aval d'une ride a un intérêt primordial dans la dynamique et l'évolution des rivières, des milieux côtiers ou des estuaires. Une des questions au coeur de ces écoulements est liée aux mécanismes d'interaction entre les particules et l'écoulement. Cette interaction donne souvent lieu à la formation de structures ondulées (rides ou dunes). Ce couplage est engendré au niveau de l'écoulement moyen, de la forme de la dune mais aussi au niveau de la macro turbulence et des structures tourbillonnaires instationnaires générées par la présence même des formes sédimentaires. L'identification des différents mécanismes et processus hydrodynamiques générés par la présence de dunes ou rides est exposée en détail par l'examen de l'écoulement laminaire à l'aval d'une ride fixe et isolée. Des techniques de mesure optiques 2D (PIV, visualisations) et 3D (Stéréo-PIV, tomographie laser) couplées à une étude numérique avec un code industriel, permettent de mettre en évidence l'instationarité, la tridimensionnalité de l'écoulement ainsi que la dynamique tourbillonnaire de la zone de recirculation à l'aval de la ride. L'impact de l'écoulement turbulent sur la naissance de dunes isolées est analysé au moyen d'une étude détaillée sur le transport de particules à partir d'essais menés en canal hydro-sédimentaire. Le rôle particulier de la zone de recirculation à l'aval de la dune est mis en évidence à l'aide d'un suivi spatio-temporel du transport des particules entre sa crête et sa face d'avalanche. Finalement, l'analyse et l'influence des conditions hydrauliques sur le seuil critique de mise en mouvement d'un lit de particules ainsi que la formation et la migration d / The aim of this study is to examine the processes leading to development a bed river, estuary or coastal environments morphology. The ability to investigate the complex nature of the interaction between fluids and sediments mechanisms and its role in bed transport and river stability is important to understand river evolution. Dunes or ripples are in frequent interaction with the bed. Hence, the topology of dune is related to the macroturbulence of the flow, mean flow field and the instantaneous structures of the vortices generated by these forms. Details of different mechanisms and hydrodynamic process generated behind a fixed single ripple are exposed by examining a laminar flow over the dune itself. Measurements with two-component Particle Image Velocimetry, three-component Stereo-PIV and flow visualization coupled with a numerical studies are performed to acquire and to obtain a detailed knowledge of the flow over the dune concerning the three-dimensionality, the instantaneous behavior of the flow and the large dynamic of vortex in the recirculation zone along the ripple. A set experiment generating turbulent flow is conducted in a hydro-sedimentary channel to detail the quantitative measurement of bedload transport processes in order to determine the effects of the turbulent flow on dune creation. A spatio-temporal monitoring of particles transport from crest to dune slip face is conducted to point the particular role of the recirculation region. Finally, the analyze and the effect of hydraulics conditions on the critical shear stresses for incipient particle motion as well as the formation and the migration of the mobile dune are emphasized by a geomorphological st