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doctoral thesis

Simulating Viscoplastic Avalanches

Rentschler, Martin  
2010

This is a numerical investigation of a yield-stress fluid flowing down an inclined plane. A three-dimensional, free-surface, two-phase incompressible Navier-Stokes solver is extended to handle generalized Newtonian fluids. Special attention is spent on the treatment of the non-Newtonian fluid close to the free-surface and on the boundaries, to get consistent values for the viscosity in those domains. The core of the solver is a projection method that is extended by an implicit solver for the stress terms in order to cope with high viscosities. This numerical tool is tested against experimental data of dam break experiments on an inclined plane, which were conducted in the Laboratoire d'hdraulique environnementale (LHE) at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). After the numerical tool is validated by these experimental data, I investigate the flow structure of a yield-stress fluid inside unsteady flows on the inclined plane and inside the inclined channels. Some typical phenomena like the formation of levees and plug domains are reproduced. As in the numerical simulation all physical variables are accessible, the mechanisms inside these flows is analyzed. Looking at the energy dissipation process shows that for the Herschel-Bulkley fluids most of the energy is dissipated where the local Bingham number is close to one.

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Type
doctoral thesis
DOI
10.5075/epfl-thesis-4640
Author(s)
Rentschler, Martin  
Advisors
Ancey, Christophe  
Date Issued

2010

Publisher

EPFL

Publisher place

Lausanne

Thesis number

4640

Total of pages

113

Subjects

Navier Stokes equations

•

generalized Newtonian fluid

•

Non-Newtonian Fluid mechanics

•

Chorin's projection scheme

•

rheology

•

inverse problem

•

parameter fitting

EPFL units
LHE  
Faculty
ENAC  
School
IIC  
Doctoral School
EDME  
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/46409
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