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Dr Craig Daniel McConnochie

Contact

Department: Civil and Natural Resources Engineering

Email: craig.mcconnochie@canterbury.ac.nz

Office:

Language: English

About
Research / Creative works
Networks
Projects
Methods & Equipment

Fields of Research

  • Environmental fluid dynamics
  • Turbulent plumes
  • Natural ventilation
  • Convection
  • Climate change
  • Ice melting

Researcher Summary

I'm interested in environmental fluid mechanics - in particular, buoyancy driven flows and heat transfer.

My work has mainly focused on improving our understanding of the melting of ice shelves and icebergs around Antarctica and Greenland. Understanding the small scale processes that govern the melt rate can help us predict how these ice sheets will respond to a warming climate over coming decades.

Some other problems that I have worked on or am interested in are:
Mixing into sediment laden plumes, such as volcanic eruptions or smokestack discharges, to understand how quickly they will dilute and where the flow will go.
The small scale processes that control turbulent mixing in a variety of fluid flows, particularly in a density stratified environment where fluid can mix both into and out of a flow.
Low energy (or no energy) ventilation of buildings to reduce energy consumption.

To understand these problems I use idealized laboratory experiments and simple models. Laboratory experiments are able to include all of the important physical processes while still being controllable and repeatable. They are a wonderful tool for understanding fluid dynamics that can also produce beautiful imagery.

Subject Area: Disciplines

  • Earth Sciences: Climatology; Glaciology
  • Engineering and Technology: Civil; Fluids Engineering; Thermodynamics & Heat Transfer

Research/Scholarly/Creative Works

  • Law S., Davidson MJ., McConnochie C. and Lagrava D. (2023) Improved numerical predictions of inclined negatively buoyant jet behaviour. Environmental Fluid Mechanics http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10652-023-09937-x. (Journal Articles)
  • McConnochie C. (2023) High variability reveals complexity under Thwaites Glacier. Nature 614(7948): 420-422. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00395-5. (Journal Articles)
  • Meredith A., McConnochie C., Nokes R. and Cenedese C. (2022) Transient behavior of through-flowing gravity currents interacting with a roughness array. Physical Review Fluids 7 063802 http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.7.063802. (Journal Articles)
  • Dempsey D. and McConnochie C. (2021) Theoretical models of magma ascent through a geothermal borehole. In. (Conference Contributions - Published)
  • Hester EW., McConnochie CD., Cenedese C., Couston LA. and Vasil G. (2021) Aspect ratio affects iceberg melting. Physical Review Fluids 6(2) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.6.023802. (Journal Articles)
  • McConnochie CD., Cenedese C. and McElwaine JN. (2021) Entrainment into particle-laden turbulent plumes. . (Journal Articles)
  • McConnochie CD., Cenedese C. and McElwaine JN. (2021) Entrainment into particle-laden turbulent plumes. Physical Review Fluids 6(12) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.6.123502. (Journal Articles)
  • McConnochie CD., Cenedese C. and McElwaine JN. (2020) Surface expression of a wall fountain: application to subglacial discharge plumes. Journal of Physical Oceanography 50(5): 1245-1263. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0213.1. (Journal Articles)
  • McConnochie CD. and Kerr RC. (2018) Dissolution of a sloping solid surface by turbulent compositional convection. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 846: 563-577. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2018.282. (Journal Articles)
  • Meroni AN., McConnochie CD., Cenedese C., Sutherland B. and Snow K. (2018) Nonlinear influence of the Earth's rotation on iceberg melting. Journal of Fluid Mechanics : 832-851. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2018.798. (Journal Articles)
  • McConnochie CD. and Kerr RC. (2017) Enhanced ablation of a vertical ice wall due to an external freshwater plume. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 810: 429-447. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2016.761. (Journal Articles)
  • McConnochie CD. and Kerr RC. (2017) Testing a common ice-ocean parameterization with laboratory experiments. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 122(7): 5905-5915. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2017JC012918. (Journal Articles)
  • McConnochie CD. and Kerr RC. (2016) The effect of a salinity gradient on the dissolution of a vertical ice face. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 791: 589-607. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2016.62. (Journal Articles)
  • McConnochie CD. and Kerr RC. (2016) An external line plume next to a dissolving ice face. In Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, AFMC 2016. (Conference Contributions - Published)
  • McConnochie CD. and Kerr RC. (2016) An external line plume next to a dissolving ice face. In Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, AFMC 2016. (Conference Contributions - Published)
  • Kerr RC. and McConnochie CD. (2015) Dissolution of a vertical solid surface by turbulent compositional convection. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 765: 211-228. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2014.722. (Journal Articles)
  • McConnochie CD. and Kerr RC. (2015) The turbulent wall plume from a vertically distributed source of buoyancy. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 787: 237-253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2015.691. (Journal Articles)
  • McConnochie CD. and Kerr RC. (2006) An external line plume next to a dissolving ice face. In Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, AFMC 2016. (Conference Contributions - Published)

Review and Refereeing

  • Journal of Fluid Mechanics ( 2015 - 2023)

Future Research

  • Plumes
  • Particle laden flow
  • Entrainment and detrainment
  • Natural ventilation
  • Gravity currents

Key Methodologies

  • Laboratory experiments
  • Theoretical modelling
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