EAPS Geophysics Seminar (12.571): Daniel Shapero (U. Washington)

Title: Primal and Dual Minimization Principles for Momentum Balance of Glaciers. Abstract: In this talk, I’ll first describe how the momentum balance equation for glaciers and other thin film flows can be derived from a minimization or action principle and why such a principle should exist at all. I’ll then show how this minimization principle is useful for implementing numerical solvers with better convergence guarantees and give a demonstration using icepack, a software package that I and others develop. Finally, I’ll show some speculative work on dual minimization principles, which simultaneously solve for both velocity and stress and, in so doing, alter the character of the nonlinearities.