[aspect-devel] Progress in writing the mantle convection code Aspect

[Timo Heister]

Magali,

> We are modeling sinking of the oceanic lithosphere into the mantle (subduction). The lithosphere is not just a thermal
> boundary layer, but also has compositional layering: the basaltic crust, a harzburgitic layer (mostly olivine) beneath that
> and then normal mantle. Each of these compositions undergoes phase changes at different depths depending on its composition.

So that means you have basically three different distinct states A,B,
and C (basaltic, harzburgitic, normal) and not a contiguous range (for
example an oxygen concentration)?
If that is the case then we can do quite a bit better compared to what
is implemented in Aspect right now. At the moment we only assume that
the field is a continuous function that can assume any value. My
student is working on taking advantage when the users tells us that a
field is a levelset (encoding distinct states). When we get that
working you can specify for each individual field, if it is a
level-set (encoding yes/no) or a continuous function (like it is right
now).

> It would great to see how the stabilization parameter affected this.

We are also experimenting with one additional parameter right now that
does increase the smoothing at very steep gradients. (still work in
progress)

-- 
Timo Heister
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~heister/