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Thixotropic gravity currents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 June 2013

Duncan R. Hewitt and
Neil J. Balmforth
Duncan R. Hewitt*
Affiliation:
Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge, CB3 0WA, UK
Neil J. Balmforth
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2, Canada
*
†Email address for correspondence: drh39@cam.ac.uk
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Abstract

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We present a model for thixotropic gravity currents flowing down an inclined plane that combines lubrication theory for shallow flow with a rheological constitutive law describing the degree of microscopic structure. The model is solved numerically for a finite volume of fluid in both two and three dimensions. The results illustrate the importance of the degree of initial ageing and the spatio-temporal variations of the microstructure during flow. The fluid does not flow unless the plane is inclined beyond a critical angle that depends on the ageing time. Above that critical angle and for relatively long ageing times, the fluid dramatically avalanches downslope, with the current becoming characterized by a structured horseshoe-shaped remnant of fluid at the back and a raised nose at the advancing front. The flow is prone to a weak interfacial instability that occurs along the border between structured and de-structured fluid. Experiments with bentonite clay show broadly similar phenomenological behaviour to that predicted by the model. Differences between the experiments and the model are discussed.

JFM classification

Complex Fluids: Complex FluidsGeophysical and Geological Flows: Gravity currentsNon-Newtonian Flows: Non-Newtonian Flows

Information

Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 727 , 25 July 2013, pp. 56 - 82
Copyright
©2013 Cambridge University Press 

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