Flows of viscoplastic fluids

Lead Research Organisation: University of Bristol
Department Name: Mathematics

Abstract

Large -scale, particle-laden flows pose significant hazards to lives and livelihoods and shape our environment. However there is no consensus on how to model their dynamics, with particular challenges in representing both the stresses that they generate and their ability to entrain deposited material into the flow. At a fundamental level these challenges concern the ability of granular materials to exhibit both fluid-like and solid-like features, an important problem that this research project will undertake through mathematical modelling, analysis and computation.

Publications

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Taylor-West J (2021) The converging flow of viscoplastic fluid in a wedge or cone in Journal of Fluid Mechanics

Studentship Projects

Project Reference Relationship Related To Start End Student Name
EP/R513179/1 01/10/2018 30/09/2023
2271366 Studentship EP/R513179/1 01/10/2019 31/03/2023 Jesse Taylor-West
 
Description An asymptotic analytical solution has been calculated for the flow of a viscoplastic fluid through converging geometries. Viscoplastic fluids are a class of fluid which acts like a solid at low stresses but flow like a liquid at higher stresses, and encompass such real-world fluids as mud, cement, toothpaste and peanut-butter. The solution provides a description of the velocities and stresses when such a fluid is pushed through a converging geometry such as a hopper or conical funnel.
Exploitation Route The work is of a fundamental fluid-dynamics nature, and so the most immediate use is likely to be in an academic setting where the asymptotic boundary-layer techniques may be used for other viscoplastic problems. Outside of academia the work could be used to model the forces required to extrude a viscoplastic fluid (such as cement or food pastes) during a manufacturing process.
Sectors Agriculture, Food and Drink,Construction,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology