Understanding Plume Variability of Enceladus by CFD Experiments
S.O. Oliver Scholts (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Stéphanie M. Cazaux – Mentor (TU Delft - Planetary Exploration)
Ferdinand F.J. Schrijer – Mentor (TU Delft - Aerodynamics)
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Abstract
Enceladus, one of Saturn’s icy moons, exhibits dynamic cryovolcanic activity through plumes of water vapour and ice erupting from its south polar terrain. Understanding the variability of these plumes is essential for interpreting Cassini observations and planning for future missions. This thesis investigates whether temporal variations in plume activity can be explained by coupled processes of deposition, wall accretion and sublimation within subsurface channels. To address this, a two-phase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) framework was developed by extending an OpenFOAM solver to incorporate wall interactions. Parametric studies were performed across a range of boundary conditions. It demonstrated that wall accretion and sublimation act as competing mechanisms that progressively narrow or widen the vents over time. These geometric evolutions feed back into plume dynamics, modulating supersaturation and nucleation phenomena. Comparison with Cassini data suggests that vent-scale processes captured by this model can reproduce key features of observed variability.