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Mechanical Engineering MS Project Presentation by Mr. Brian K. Mingels

When: Wednesday, July 26, 2017
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Where: Textiles Building 101E
Description: The Mechanical Engineering Department is pleased to announce the following:

Mechanical Engineering (MNE) Master of Science (MS) Project Presentation by Mr. Brian K. Mingels

DATE:
Wednesday, July 26, 2017

TIME:
11:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.

LOCATION:
Textile Building, Room 101E

TOPIC:
Improving the Scaling of the Ekman Depth in the Bay of Bengal Using Numerical Ocean Models

ABSTRACT:
The Ekman layer is a vertically distributed flow field in the upper ocean where the divergence of the turbulent
momentum flux is balanced by the Coriolis force. The Bay of Bengal has a strongly stratified upper-ocean caused
by monsoon rainfall and fresh water river discharge. Strong stratification in the Bay of Bengal heavily influences the structure of the upper-ocean by modifying the distribution of near-surface current velocities. In 1972 Raymond Pollard derived a scaling to the Ekman depth which includes stratification. His solution shows that there is an equal contribution from stratification and the Coriolis parameter which may not be true when there is strong stratification in the upper-ocean such as in the Bay of Bengal. Using a numerical ocean model to calculate nearsurface current velocities in the Bay of Bengal, I evaluated a more accurate scaling for the depth of the Ekman layer. I optimized the scaling parameters in a modified version of Pollard's scaling to fit the data from the model.
Previous unpublished attempts without the use of a model suggested that Pollard's scaling could be correct but
these results lacked confidence due to insufficient data. Results from the model show that Pollard's original
scaling, although close, does not fall in the range of our fit, which suggests Coriolis and stratification are not weighted equally when there is strong stratification in the upper-ocean.

ADVISOR:
Dr. Amit Tandon, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UMD (atandon@umassd.edu, 508.999.8357)

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Dr. Raymond Laoulache, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UMD
Dr. Sanjiv Ramachandran, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UMD

Open to the public. All MNE students are encouraged to attend.
Topical Areas: Faculty, General Public, Staff and Administrators, Students, Students, Graduate, Students, Undergraduate, University Community, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering