A vertically non-uniform temperature approach for the friction term computation in depth-averaged viscoplastic lava flows

Abstract

Recently, depth-averaged shallow flow models have been adapted to modelling liquefied lava flows, generally characterized by a marked temperature-dependent non-Newtonian rheology. Modelling these complex flows requires to include the effects of the depth-averaged temperature gradients in the governing equations. The most significant term to correctly predict the lava mobility is the flow resistance term, which is widely estimated using the linear viscoplastic Bingham model. This non-Newtonian model allows to relate the bed shear stress to the depth-averaged lava flow features by means of a cubic equation with analytical solution when assuming a uniform temperature distribution along the vertical profile. Nevertheless, the lava temperature is non-uniform along the vertical due to the heat transfer at the bottom and the free surface, and hence the classical cubic Bingham model is not valid anymore. In this work, a depth-averaged shallow flow model is adapted for realistic lava flows considering influence of the non-uniform vertical temperature profile in the non-Newtonian resistance. This requires to modify the rheological viscoplastic models for ensuring the coupling between flow dynamics and temperature evolution. Three non-uniform temperature vertical distributions are considered: linear, piece-wise and diffusion profiles. Synthetic tests are used to show the influence of the temperature vertical profile on the numerical results. Furthermore, laboratory experimental data are used to validate this novel viscoplastic resistance formulation and to show that the calibration of its parameters is possible.