Ice front shaping by upward convective current

TL;DR

This study investigates how upward convective currents, driven by water's unique density-temperature relationship, shape ice fronts in a heated water cavity through experiments and simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a boundary-layer and buoyancy-intensity model explaining ice front morphology influenced by convection and wall inclination.

Findings

Upward convective currents significantly influence ice front shape.

The temperature difference and wall inclination affect ice morphology.

Models successfully predict key features of ice front formation.

Abstract

The extent and the morphology of ice forming in a differentially heated cavity filled with water is studied by means of experiments and numerical simulations. We show that the main mechanism responsible for the ice shaping is the existence of a cold upward convective current in the system. Such a current is ascribed to the peculiar equation of state of water, i.e., the non-monotonous dependence of density with temperature. The precise form of the ice front depends on several factors, first the temperature difference across the cell which drives the convection, second the wall inclination with respect to the vertical, both of which are here explored. We propose a boundary-layer model and a buoyancy-intensity model which account for the main features of the ice morphology.