Spatio-temporal variability in the lubrication of complex flows

In many settings, industrial or geophysical, fluid flows of complex shear thinning or yield-stress fluids are laterally extensive so that their behaviour largely reflects a balance between the driving forces and the stress exerted by contact with the substrate. In some cases, that stress condition coupling the flow to the substrate is either unknown, or may be highly variable in time and in space. This project will examine, through a combination of theoretical, experimental and data analysis, what quantitative inferences may be made about the coupling with the substrate through careful study of the surface velocity field. Particular attention will be given to poroelastic or plastic substrates, and their impact on the surface velocity field.