Numerical Simulation of Non-Homogeneous Viscous Debris-Flows Based on the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) Method

Non-homogeneous viscous debris flows are characterized by high density, impact force and destructiveness, and the complexity of the materials they are made of. This has always made these flows challenging to simulate numerically, and to reproduce experimentally debris flow processes. In this study, the formation-movement process of non-homogeneous debris flow under three different soil configurations was simulated numerically by modifying the formulation of collision, friction, and yield stresses for the existing Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. The results obtained by applying this modification to the SPH model clearly demonstrated that the configuration where fine and coarse particles are fully mixed, with no specific layering, produces more fluctuations and instability of the debris flow. The kinetic and potential energies of the fluctuating particles calculated for each scenario have been shown to be affected by the water content by focusing on small local areas. Therefore, this study provides a better understanding and new insights regarding intermittent debris flows, and explains the impact of the water content on their formation and movement processes

On the mechanism of trailing vortex wandering

The mechanism of trailing vortex wandering has long been debated and is often attributed to either wind-tunnel effects or an instability. Using particle image velocimetry data obtained in the wake of a NACA0012 airfoil, we remove the effect of wandering from the measured velocity field and, through a triple decomposition, recover the coherent wandering motion. Based on this wandering motion, the most energetic structures are computed using the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and exhibit a helical mode with an azimuthal wavenumber of |m|=1 whose kinetic energy grows monotonically in the downstream direction. To investigate the nature of the vortex wandering, we perform a spatial stability analysis of a matched Batchelor vortex. The primary stability mode is found to be marginally stable and nearly identical in both size and structure to the leading POD mode. The strikingly similar structure, coupled with the measured energy growth, supports the proposition that the vortex wandering is the result of an instability. We conclude that the cause of the wandering is the non-zero radial velocity of the |m|=1 mode on the vortex centreline, which acts to transversely displace the trailing vortex, as observed in experiments. However, the marginal nature of the stability mode prevents a definitive conclusion regarding the specific type of instability

The temperature of the WNM in the Milky Way

We report high spectral resolution Australia Telescope Compact Array HI 21 cm observations resulting in the detection of the warm neutral medium (WNM) of the Galaxy in absorption against two extragalactic radio sources, PKS 1814-637 and PKS 0407-658. The two lines of sight were selected on the basis of the simplicity of their absorption profiles and the strength of the background sources; the high velocity resolution of the spectra then enabled us to estimate the kinetic temperatures of the absorbing gas by fitting multiple Gaussians to the absorption profiles. Four separate WNM components were detected toward the two sources, with peak optical depths $\tau_{max} = (1.0 \pm 0.08) \times 10^{-2}$, $(1.4 \pm 0.2) \times 10^{-3}$, $(2.2 \pm 0.5) \times 10^{-3}$ and $(3.4 \pm 0.5) \times 10^{-3}$ and kinetic temperatures $T_{k} = 3127 \pm 300$ K, $3694 \pm 1595$ K, $3500 \pm 1354$ K and $2165 \pm 608$ K respectively. All four components were thus found to have temperatures in the thermally unstable range $500 < T_{k} < 5000$ K; this suggests that thermal equilibrium has not been reached throughout the WNM.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS (Letters). Minor typos removed to match version in pres