https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050405
Fingering instability in a water-sand mixture
1
Institut für Theoretische Physik,
Otto-von-Guericke-Universität, Postfach 4120,
39016 Magdeburg,
Germany
2
Institut für Experimentelle Physik,
Otto-von-Guericke-Universität,
Postfach 4120,
39016 Magdeburg,
Germany
Corresponding author: a adrian.lange@physik.uni-magdeburg.de
Received:
12
December
1997
Revised:
23
March
1998
Accepted:
28
April
1998
Published online: 15 August 1998
The temporal evolution of a water-sand interface driven by gravity is experimentally investigated. By means of a Fourier analysis of the evolving interface the growth rates are determined for the different modes appearing in the developing front. To model the observed behavior we apply the idea of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability for two stratified fluids. Carrying out a linear stability analysis we calculate the growth rates from the corresponding dispersion relations for finite and infinite cell sizes. Based on the theoretical results the viscosity of the suspension is estimated to be approximately 100 times higher than that of pure water, in agreement with other experimental findings.
PACS: 47.54.+r – Pattern selection; pattern formation / 47.55.Kf – Multiphase and particle-laden flows / 68.10.-m – Fluid surfaces and fluid-fluid interfaces
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 1998
