Debris flows are dense and fast-moving complex suspensions of soil and water that threaten lives and infrastructure. Assessing the hazard potential of debris flows requires predicting yield and flow behavior. Reported measurements of rheology for debris flow slurries are highly variable and sometimes contradictory due to heterogeneity in particle composition and volume fraction ( ϕ ) and also inconsistent measurement methods. Here we examine the composition and flow behavior of source materials that formed the postwildfire debris flows in Montecito, CA, in 2018, for a wide range of ϕ that encapsulates debris flow formation by overland flow. We find that shear viscosity and yield stress are controlled by the distance from jamming, Δ ϕ = ϕ m − ϕ , where the jamming fraction ϕ m is a material parameter that depends on grain size polydispersity and friction. By rescaling shear and viscous stresses to account for these effects, the data collapse onto a simple nondimensional flow curve indicative of a Bingham plastic (viscoplastic) fluid. Given the highly nonlinear dependence of rheology on Δ ϕ , our findings suggest that determining the jamming fraction for natural materials will significantly improve flow models for geophysical suspensions such as hyperconcentrated flows and debris flows.
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How clay particulates affect flow cessation and the coiling stability of yield stress-matched cementing suspensions
The remarkable increase in the flow resistance of dense suspensions can hinder 3D-printing processes on account of flow cessation in the extruder, and filament fragility/rupture following deposition. Understanding the nature of rheological changes that occur is critical to manipulate flow conditions or to dose flow modifiers for 3D-printing. Therefore, this paper elucidates the influences of clay particulates on controlling flow cessation and the shape stability of dense cementing suspensions that typically feature poor printability. A rope coiling method was implemented with varying stand-off distances to probe the buckling stability and tendency to fracture of dense suspensions that undergo stretching and bending during deposition. The contributions of flocculation and short-term percolation due to the kinetics of structure formation to deformation rate were deconvoluted using a stepped isostress method. It is shown that the shear stress indicates a divergence with a power-law scaling when the particle volume fraction approaches the jamming limit; ϕ → ϕ j ≈ ϕ max . Such a power-law divergence of the shear stress decreases by a factor of 10 with increasing clay dosage. Such behavior in clay-containing suspensions arises from a decrease in the relative packing fraction ( ϕ / ϕ max ) and the formation of fractally-architected aggregates with stronger interparticle interactions, whose uniform arrangement controls flow cessation in the extruder and suspension homogeneity, thereby imparting greater buckling stability. The outcomes offer new insights for assessing/improving the extrudability and printability behavior during slurry-based 3D-printing process.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1922167
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10195543
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Soft Matter
- Volume:
- 16
- Issue:
- 16
- ISSN:
- 1744-683X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 3929 to 3940
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SM02414J
