The crumbling of a viscous prism with an inclined free surface |
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Authors: | J Diez S Betelú R Gratton |
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Institution: | (1) Instituto de Física Arroyo Seco, Facuĺtad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Pinto 399, 7000, Tandil, Argentina, AR |
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Abstract: | Summary We study the two-dimensional instantaneous Stokes flow driven by gravity in a viscous triangular prism supported by a horizontal
rigid substrate and a vertical wall. The oblique side of the prism, inclined at an angle α with respect to the substrate,
is a fluid-air interface, where the stresses are zero and surface tension is neglected. We develop the stream function ψ in
polar coordinates (r,θ) centered at the vertex of α and split it into an inhomogeneous part, which accounts for gravity effects, and a homogeneous
part, which is expressed as a series expansion. The inhomogeneous part and the first term of the expansion may be envisioned,
respectively, as self-similar solutions of the first kind and of the second kind for r→0, each one holding in complementary α domains with a crossover at α
c
=21.47∘, which we study in some detail. The coefficients of the series are calculated by truncating the expansion and using the method
of direct collocation with a suitable set of points at the wall. The solution strictly holds for t=0, because later the free surface ceases to be a plane; nevertheless, it provides a good approximation for the early time
evolution of the fluid profile, as shown by the comparison with numerical simulations. For 0<α<45∘, the vertex angle remains constant and the edge remains strictly at rest; the transition at α
c
manifests itself through a change in the rate of growth of the curvature. The time at which the edge starts to move (waiting
time) cannot be calculated since the instantaneous solution ceases to be valid. For α>45∘, the instantaneous local solution indicates that the surface near the vertex is launched against the substrate so that the
edge starts to move immediately with a power law dependence on time t. However, due to the high value of the exponent, the vertex may seem to be at rest for some finite time even in this case.
Received 29 August 1997; accepted for publication 21 January 1998 |
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Keywords: | Stokes flow gravity current self-similar solutions waiting time lubrication approximation instantaneous velocity |
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