Most lava flows carry bubbles and crystals in suspension. From earlier works, it is known that spherical bubbles increase the effective viscosity while bubbles deformed by rapid flow decrease it. Changes in the spatial distribution of bubbles can lead to variable rheology and flow localization and thus modify the resulting lava flow structure and morphology. To understand the roles of bubble and solid phase crystal distributions, we conducted a series of analog experiments of high bubble fraction suspensions. We poured the analog lava on an inclined slope, observed its shape, calculated the velocity field, and monitored its local thickness. A region of localized rapid flow and low vesicularity, whose thickness is thinner than the surrounding area, develops at the center of the bubbly flows. These features suggest that the locally higher liquid fraction decreases the effective viscosity, increases the fluid density, and accelerates the flow. We also found that a halted particle‐bearing bubbly flow can resume flowing. We interpret this to result from the upward vertical separation of bubbles, which generates a liquid‐rich layer at the bottom of the flow. In our experiment, bubbles are basically spherical and decrease the flow velocity, while our estimate suggests that bubbles in natural lava flows could increase or decrease flow velocity. Downstream decreases in flow velocity stops the bubble deformation and can cause a sudden increase of effective viscosity. The vertical segregation of the liquid phase at the slowed flow front may be a way to generate a cavernous shelly paho’eho’e.
Bubbles will rest at the surface of a liquid bath until their spherical cap drains sufficiently to spontaneously rupture. For large film caps, the memory of initial conditions is believed to be erased due to a visco-gravitational flow, whose velocity increases from the top of the bubble to its base. Consequently, the film thickness has been calculated to be relatively uniform as it thins, regardless of whether the drainage is regulated by shear or elongation. Here, we demonstrate that for large bare bubbles, the film thickness is highly nonuniform throughout drainage, spanning orders of magnitude from top to base. We link the film thickness profile to a universal non-monotonic drainage flow that depends on the bubble thinning rate. These results highlight an unexpected coupling between drainage velocity and bubble thickness profiles and provide critical insight needed to understand the retraction and breakup dynamics of these bubbles upon rupture.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1351466
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10397467
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 14
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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