Theory of creeping gravity currents of a non-Newtonian liquid

Recently several experiments on creeping gravity currents have been performed, using highly viscous silicone oils and putties. The interpretation of the experiments relies on the available theoretical results that were obtained by means of the lubrication approximation with the assumption of a Newto...

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Autores principales: Gratton, J., Minotti, F., Mahajan, S.M.
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Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_1063651X_v60_n6_p6960_Gratton
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spelling todo:paper_1063651X_v60_n6_p6960_Gratton2023-10-03T16:01:27Z Theory of creeping gravity currents of a non-Newtonian liquid Gratton, J. Minotti, F. Mahajan, S.M. article Recently several experiments on creeping gravity currents have been performed, using highly viscous silicone oils and putties. The interpretation of the experiments relies on the available theoretical results that were obtained by means of the lubrication approximation with the assumption of a Newtonian rheology. Since very viscous fluids are usually non-Newtonian, an extension of the theory to include non-Newtonian effects is needed. We derive the governing equations for unidirectional and axisymmetric creeping gravity currents of a non-Newtonian liquid with a power-law rheology, generalizing the usual lubrication approximation. The equations differ from those for Newtonian liquids, being nonlinear in the spatial derivative of the thickness of the current. Similarity solutions for currents whose volume varies as a power of time are obtained. For the spread of a constant volume of liquid, analytic solutions are found that are in good agreement with experiment. We also derive solutions of the waiting-time type, as well as those describing steady flows from a constant source to a sink. General traveling-wave solutions are given, and analytic formulas for a simple case are derived. A phase plane formalism that allows the systematic derivation of self-similar solutions is introduced. The application of the Boltzmann transform is briefly discussed. All the self-similar solutions obtained here have their counterparts in Newtonian flows, as should be expected because the power-law rheology involves a single-dimensional parameter as the Newtonian constitutive relation. Thus one finds similarity solutions whenever the analogous Newtonian problem is self-similar, but now the spreading relations are rheology-dependent. In most cases this dependence is weak but leads to significant differences easily detected in experiments. The present results may also be of interest for geophysics since the lithosphere deforms according to an average power-law rheology. © 1999 The American Physical Society. JOUR info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_1063651X_v60_n6_p6960_Gratton
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic article
spellingShingle article
Gratton, J.
Minotti, F.
Mahajan, S.M.
Theory of creeping gravity currents of a non-Newtonian liquid
topic_facet article
description Recently several experiments on creeping gravity currents have been performed, using highly viscous silicone oils and putties. The interpretation of the experiments relies on the available theoretical results that were obtained by means of the lubrication approximation with the assumption of a Newtonian rheology. Since very viscous fluids are usually non-Newtonian, an extension of the theory to include non-Newtonian effects is needed. We derive the governing equations for unidirectional and axisymmetric creeping gravity currents of a non-Newtonian liquid with a power-law rheology, generalizing the usual lubrication approximation. The equations differ from those for Newtonian liquids, being nonlinear in the spatial derivative of the thickness of the current. Similarity solutions for currents whose volume varies as a power of time are obtained. For the spread of a constant volume of liquid, analytic solutions are found that are in good agreement with experiment. We also derive solutions of the waiting-time type, as well as those describing steady flows from a constant source to a sink. General traveling-wave solutions are given, and analytic formulas for a simple case are derived. A phase plane formalism that allows the systematic derivation of self-similar solutions is introduced. The application of the Boltzmann transform is briefly discussed. All the self-similar solutions obtained here have their counterparts in Newtonian flows, as should be expected because the power-law rheology involves a single-dimensional parameter as the Newtonian constitutive relation. Thus one finds similarity solutions whenever the analogous Newtonian problem is self-similar, but now the spreading relations are rheology-dependent. In most cases this dependence is weak but leads to significant differences easily detected in experiments. The present results may also be of interest for geophysics since the lithosphere deforms according to an average power-law rheology. © 1999 The American Physical Society.
format JOUR
author Gratton, J.
Minotti, F.
Mahajan, S.M.
author_facet Gratton, J.
Minotti, F.
Mahajan, S.M.
author_sort Gratton, J.
title Theory of creeping gravity currents of a non-Newtonian liquid
title_short Theory of creeping gravity currents of a non-Newtonian liquid
title_full Theory of creeping gravity currents of a non-Newtonian liquid
title_fullStr Theory of creeping gravity currents of a non-Newtonian liquid
title_full_unstemmed Theory of creeping gravity currents of a non-Newtonian liquid
title_sort theory of creeping gravity currents of a non-newtonian liquid
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_1063651X_v60_n6_p6960_Gratton
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