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Water
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Non-Newtonian Fluids in Environmental Hydraulics: Modelling and Applications
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Non-Newtonian Fluids in Environmental Hydraulics: Modelling and Applications

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydraulics and Hydrodynamics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2021) | Viewed by 24971

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Vittorio Di Federico

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Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Chimica, Ambientale e dei Materiali, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Interests: characterization of heterogeneity, scaling, flow and transport in porous and fractured media; non-Newtonian fluids; seawater intrusion; geophysical and environmental gravity and density currents; modeling and reliability analysis of water distribution and sewer systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Valentina Ciriello

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Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering—DICAM, University of Bologna, viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Interests: groundwater hydraulics; fluid mechanics; water networks; water–energy nexus; water resources management; precision agriculture; stochastic modelling; model reduction; optimization; uncertainty quantification
Prof. Dr. Sandro Longo

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Guest Editor
Department of Engineering and Architecture—DIA, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy
Interests: hydraulics; fluid mechanics; non-Newtonian fluids; sea gravity waves; turbulence; physical modelling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Non-Newtonian fluids, whose flow properties are not described by a single constant value of viscosity, are ubiquitous in nature. Such fluids are most commonly characterized by a non-linear relationship between stress and strain, yield stress, or time-dependent viscosity. Rheological complexity entails, in turn, solving non-linear mathematical problems that are far more challenging than those involving Newtonian fluids. Similar challenges are faced at the experimental level, where physico-chemical aspects and rheometry become paramount. For environmental flows, these issues are often coupled with the inherent parametric uncertainty typical of natural settings.

This Special Issue is open to papers advancing knowledge of non-Newtonian flows in natural fluid systems, both above and below ground, or showing innovative applications. Analytical, numerical, and experimental approaches are equally welcome. Potential topics include but are not limited to open-channel flows (including regime transitions, propagation phenomena, and stability), debris and mud flows, gravity currents both in the viscous and inertial regime, and turbulence modeling. As to the subsurface environment, this call welcomes analyses (at the Darcy scale) and case studies dealing with both porous and fractured media and pertaining to fracking, EOR applications, the migration of pollutants, wastes and drilling fluids, and the flow of complex fluids acting as carriers for remediation agents, to name a few.

Prof. Dr. Vittorio Di Federico
Prof. Dr. Valentina Ciriello
Prof. Dr. Sandro Longo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • non-Newtonian fluids
  • environmental hydraulics
  • turbulence
  • gravity-driven flow
  • debris flow
  • dambreak
  • mining slurries
  • fracking fluids
  • reservoir engineering
  • numerical methods
  • rheometry

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 11778 KiB  
Article
Thixotropic Behavior of Reconstituted Debris-Flow Mixture
by Leonardo Schippa, Ferruccio Doghieri, Anna Maria Pellegrino and Elisa Pavesi
Water 2021, 13(2), 153; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13020153 - 11 Jan 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2442
Abstract
Time-dependent rheological properties and thixotropy of reconstituted debris-flows samples taken from channel bank deposits are examined using a commercial rheometer equipped with a vane rotor geometric system. Sweep tests and creep tests were carried out involving mixtures having different grain concentrations ranging between [...] Read more.
Time-dependent rheological properties and thixotropy of reconstituted debris-flows samples taken from channel bank deposits are examined using a commercial rheometer equipped with a vane rotor geometric system. Sweep tests and creep tests were carried out involving mixtures having different grain concentrations ranging between 50% and 58%. Different initial conditions of the mixtures were considered in order to analyze the effects of aging and rejuvenation (thixotropy) over a short period of time and long period of time. Tested slurries show viscosity bifurcation, yield stress and time-dependent behavior. According to the experimental results, three different regimes were identified: a lower shear rate regime, corresponding to a shear rate lower than the critical value; an intermediate banding shear rate regime characterized by static and dynamic yield stress level; and a higher shear rate regime where the flowing debris behaves as a non-Newtonian fluid characterized by a constant steady state ultimate apparent viscosity. In any case, the initial state of the mixture and the sediment concentration affects the ultimate steady state rheology and the time-dependent (thixotropy) slurries’ behavior. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-Newtonian Fluids in Environmental Hydraulics: Modelling and Applications)
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10 pages, 3353 KiB  
Article
Perturbation Solution for Pulsatile Flow of a Non-Newtonian Fluid in a Rock Fracture: A Logarithmic Model
by Irene Daprà and Giambattista Scarpi
Water 2020, 12(5), 1341; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051341 - 9 May 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2206
Abstract
The purpose of this work is to study the motion of a non-Newtonian fluid in a rock fracture, generated by a constant pressure gradient to which a pulsating component is superposed. The momentum equation is faced analytically by adopting a logarithmic constitutive law; [...] Read more.
The purpose of this work is to study the motion of a non-Newtonian fluid in a rock fracture, generated by a constant pressure gradient to which a pulsating component is superposed. The momentum equation is faced analytically by adopting a logarithmic constitutive law; the velocity is expressed as a power series of the amplitude of the pulsating component, up to the second order, easily usable for numerical calculations. The results obtained are compared with those provided in the past by the authors, using a three-parameter Williamson model. The comparison highlights that the value of the mean flow rate in a period differs by less than 10% even if the velocity profiles look quite different. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-Newtonian Fluids in Environmental Hydraulics: Modelling and Applications)
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10 pages, 1695 KiB  
Article
Condition for the Incipient Motion of Non-Cohesive Particles Due to Laminar Flows of Power-Law Fluids in Closed Conduits
by Aldo Tamburrino and Cristóbal Traslaviña
Water 2020, 12(5), 1295; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051295 - 3 May 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2573
Abstract
The results of an experimental study on the condition of incipient transport of non-cohesive particles due to the flow of a power-law fluid in a rectangular pipe are presented in this article. The pipe can change its inclination, and experiments were carried out [...] Read more.
The results of an experimental study on the condition of incipient transport of non-cohesive particles due to the flow of a power-law fluid in a rectangular pipe are presented in this article. The pipe can change its inclination, and experiments were carried out with positive and negative slopes. From a dimensional analysis, the parameters that define the condition of incipient motion were found and validated with experimental data. Thus, the threshold condition is well defined by a particle Reynolds number and a Galileo number, properly modified to take into account the power-law rheology of the fluid. The experimental data are also presented in a standard Shields diagram, including the data obtained in other studies carried out in open-channel laminar flows of Newtonian and power-law fluids. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-Newtonian Fluids in Environmental Hydraulics: Modelling and Applications)
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13 pages, 4761 KiB  
Article
An Experimental Setup to Investigate Non-Newtonian Fluid Flow in Variable Aperture Channels
by Alessandro Lenci and Luca Chiapponi
Water 2020, 12(5), 1284; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051284 - 1 May 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3657
Abstract
Non-Newtonian fluid flow in porous and fractured media is of considerable technical and environmental interest. Here, the flow of a non-Newtonian fluid in a variable aperture fracture is studied theoretically, experimentally and numerically. We consider a shear-thinning power-law fluid with flow behavior index [...] Read more.
Non-Newtonian fluid flow in porous and fractured media is of considerable technical and environmental interest. Here, the flow of a non-Newtonian fluid in a variable aperture fracture is studied theoretically, experimentally and numerically. We consider a shear-thinning power-law fluid with flow behavior index n. The natural logarithm of the fracture aperture is a two-dimensional, spatially homogeneous and correlated Gaussian random field. An experimental device has been conceived and realized to allow the validation of the theory, and several tests are conducted with Newtonian and shear-thinning fluids and different combinations of parameters to validate the model. For Newtonian fluids, experimental results match quite well the theoretical predictions, mostly with a slight overestimation. For non-Newtonian fluids, the discrepancy between experiments and theory is larger, with an underestimation of the experimental flow rate. We bear in mind the high shear-rates involved in the experiments, covering a large range where simple models seldom are effective in reproducing the process, and possible interferences like slip at the wall. For all test conditions, the comparison between analytical and numerical model is fairly good. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-Newtonian Fluids in Environmental Hydraulics: Modelling and Applications)
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22 pages, 5850 KiB  
Article
Pulsating Flow of an Ostwald—De Waele Fluid between Parallel Plates
by Rodrigo González, Aldo Tamburrino, Andrea Vacca and Michele Iervolino
Water 2020, 12(4), 932; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12040932 - 25 Mar 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4011
Abstract
The flow between two parallel plates driven by a pulsatile pressure gradient was studied analytically with a second-order velocity expansion. The resulting velocity distribution was compared with a numerical solution of the momentum equation to validate the analytical solution, with excellent agreement between [...] Read more.
The flow between two parallel plates driven by a pulsatile pressure gradient was studied analytically with a second-order velocity expansion. The resulting velocity distribution was compared with a numerical solution of the momentum equation to validate the analytical solution, with excellent agreement between the two approaches. From the velocity distribution, the analytical computation of the discharge, wall shear stress, discharge, and dispersion enhancements were also computed. The influence on the solution of the dimensionless governing parameters and of the value of the rheological index was discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-Newtonian Fluids in Environmental Hydraulics: Modelling and Applications)
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15 pages, 1159 KiB  
Article
Injection of Zerovalent Iron Gels for Aquifer Nanoremediation: Lab Experiments and Modeling
by Federico Mondino, Amelia Piscitello, Carlo Bianco, Andrea Gallo, Alessandra de Folly D’Auris, Tiziana Tosco, Marco Tagliabue and Rajandrea Sethi
Water 2020, 12(3), 826; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12030826 - 15 Mar 2020
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3994
Abstract
One of the main technical problems faced during field-scale injections of iron microparticles (mZVI) for groundwater nanoremediation is related to their poor colloidal stability and mobility in porous media. In this study, a shear-thinning gel, composed of a mixture of two environmentally friendly [...] Read more.
One of the main technical problems faced during field-scale injections of iron microparticles (mZVI) for groundwater nanoremediation is related to their poor colloidal stability and mobility in porous media. In this study, a shear-thinning gel, composed of a mixture of two environmentally friendly biopolymers, i.e., guar gum and xanthan gum, was employed to overcome these limitations. The slurry rheology and particle mobility were characterized by column transport tests. Then, a radial transport experiment was performed to mimic the particle delivery in more realistic conditions. The gel, even at a low polymeric content (1.75 g/L), proved effective in enhancing the mobility of high concentrated mZVI suspensions (20 g/L) in field-like conditions. The high radius of influence (73 cm) and homogeneous iron distribution were achieved by maintaining a low injection overpressure (<0.4 bar). Based only on the information derived from column tests, the MNMs 2018 software (Micro- and Nanoparticle transport, filtration, and clogging Model-Suite) was able to predict the particle distribution and pressure build-up measured in the radial domain. Experimental and simulated results showed good agreement, thus proving that a simplified experimental-modeling procedure based on 1D column tests could be used to effectively upscale the slurry behavior to more representative scales, e.g., radial domains. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-Newtonian Fluids in Environmental Hydraulics: Modelling and Applications)
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18 pages, 12635 KiB  
Article
Using a Data Driven Approach to Predict Waves Generated by Gravity Driven Mass Flows
by Zhenzhu Meng, Yating Hu and Christophe Ancey
Water 2020, 12(2), 600; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12020600 - 22 Feb 2020
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 4303
Abstract
When colossal gravity-driven mass flows enter a body of water, they may generate waves which can have destructive consequences on coastal areas. A number of empirical equations in the form of power functions of several dimensionless groups have been developed to predict wave [...] Read more.
When colossal gravity-driven mass flows enter a body of water, they may generate waves which can have destructive consequences on coastal areas. A number of empirical equations in the form of power functions of several dimensionless groups have been developed to predict wave characteristics. However, in some complex cases (for instance, when the mass striking the water is made up of varied slide materials), fitting an empirical equation with a fixed form to the experimental data may be problematic. In contrast to previous empirical equations that specified the mathematical operators in advance, we developed a purely data-driven approach which relies on datasets and does not need any assumptions about functional form or physical constraints. Experiments were carried out using Carbopol Ultrez 10 (a viscoplastic polymeric gel) and polymer–water balls. We selected an artificial neural network model as an example of a data-driven approach to predicting wave characteristics. We first validated the model by comparing it with best-fit empirical equations. Then, we applied the proposed model to two scenarios which run into difficulty when modeled using those empirical equations: (i) predicting wave features from subaerial landslide parameters at their initial stage (with the mass beginning to move down the slope) rather than from the parameters at impact; and (ii) predicting waves generated by different slide materials, specifically, viscoplastic slides, granular slides, and viscoplastic–granular mixtures. The method proposed here can easily be updated when new parameters or constraints are introduced into the model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-Newtonian Fluids in Environmental Hydraulics: Modelling and Applications)
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