Characteristic time of thermal and diffusional relaxation

• Date: 2015
• Main Authors: Aryasova, O., Khazan, Ya.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: S. Subbotin Institute of Geophysics of the NAS of Ukraine 2015
• Subjects: characteristic time; thermal relaxation
• Online Access: https://journals.uran.ua/geofizicheskiy/article/view/111174
• Journal Title: Geofizicheskiy Zhurnal

It is shown that frequently used dimensional estimation of a layer thermal relaxation time, tr, as L2/κ based on the layer thickness, L, and thermal diffusivity, κ, strongly overestimates tr. The correct estimate tr=L2/π2κ should contain a factor of 1/π2 which is of the order of 0.1.