Lubricated axisymmetric gravity currents of power-law fluids

DOI10.1017/JFM.2022.784zbMATH Open1498.76003arXiv2107.01586OpenAlexW3179265374MaRDI QIDQ5039014FDOQ5039014

Authors: Ayala A. Gyllenberg, Roiy Sayag 

Publication date: 10 October 2022

Published in: Journal of Fluid Mechanics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The motion of glaciers over their bedrock or drops of fluid along a solid surface can become unstable when these substrates are lubricated. Previous studies modeled such systems as coupled gravity currents (GCs) consisting of one fluid that lubricates the flow of another fluid, and having two propagating fronts. When both fluid are Newtonian and discharged at constant flux, global similarity solutions were found. However, when the top fluid is strain-rate softening experiments have shown that each fluid front evolved with a different exponent. Here we explore theoretically and numerically such lubricated GCs in a model that describes the axisymmetric spreading of a power-law fluid on top of a Newtonian fluid, where the discharge of both fluids is power law in time. We find that the model admits similarity solutions only in specific cases, including the purely Newtonian case, for a certain discharge exponent, at asymptotic limits of the fluids viscosity ratio, and at the vicinity of the fluid fronts. Generally, each fluid front has a power-law time evolution with a similar exponent as a non-lubricated GC of the corresponding fluid, and intercepts that depend on both fluid properties. Consequently, we identify two mechanisms by which the inner lubricating fluid front outstrips the outer fluid front. Many aspects of our theory are found consistent with recent laboratory experiments. Discrepancies suggest that hydrofracturing or wall slip may be important near the fronts. This theory may help to understand the dynamics of various systems, including surges and ice streams.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.01586

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zbMATH Keywords

asymptotic limitsimilarity solutionfree surface interfacial flowtwo-fluid geophysical flow model

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Non-Newtonian fluids (76A05) Lubrication theory (76D08) Asymptotic methods, singular perturbations applied to problems in fluid mechanics (76M45) Hydrology, hydrography, oceanography (86A05) Liquid-liquid two component flows (76T06)

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Cited In (8)

• Axisymmetric gravity currents of power-law fluids over a rigid horizontal surface
• A controllable sliding law for thin-film flows over slippery fluid-saturated substrates: theory and experiments
• Converging gravity currents of power-law fluid
• Lubricated viscous gravity currents of power-law fluids. I: Self-similar flow regimes
• Lubricated gravity currents of power-law fluids
• Dynamics of a thin film of fluid spreading over a lubricated substrate
• Viscous propagation of two-dimensional non-Newtonian gravity currents
• Thixotropic gravity currents

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