Impact interaction of in-flight high-energy molten volcanic ash droplets with jet engines

© 2019 The turbine technology incorporated in jet engines is inherently vulnerable to attack by environmental silicate debris. Amongst the various kinds of such debris, volcanic ash is a particular threat as its glass softens to a liquid at temperatures of 500–800 °C, far below jet engine operating temperatures of ∼1500 °C. As a result, ingested re-molten droplets impact and form splats on the protective thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). Investigation of the damage to jet engines ensuing from this process has, to date been restricted to forensic observations after critical encounters. Here, we employ a thermal spray technology to recreate the ‘in-situ’ generation of molten volcanic ash droplets and observe their morphological evolution and interaction with TBCs. The mechanism of splat formation is found to depend both on substrate topography and on in-flight droplet characteristics, whereby splat circularity increases with surface roughness and with the product of the Weber and Reynolds numbers. The experiments reveal that the molten ash droplet adhesion rate is dictated by droplet temperature and viscosity, ash concentration and substrate roughness. A new dimensionless number, S, is developed to quantify the molten ash droplet adhesion rate to both substrate topography and in-flight droplet characteristics. These findings provide a greatly improved basis for the quantification of the hazard potential of volcanic ash to jet engines and should be incorporated into protocols for operational aviation response during volcanic crises

a comparison of morphological and petrological methods

In planetary sciences, the emplacement of lava flows is commonly modelled using a single rheological parameter (apparent viscosity or apparent yield strength) calculated from morphological dimensions using Jeffreysʼ and Hulmeʼs equations. The rheological parameter is then typically further interpreted in terms of the nature and chemical composition of the lava (e.g., mafic or felsic). Without the possibility of direct sampling of the erupted material, the validity of this approach has remained largely untested. In modern volcanology, the complex rheological behaviour of lavas is measured and modelled as a function of chemical composition of the liquid phase, fractions of crystals and bubbles, temperature and strain rate. Here, we test the planetary approach using a terrestrial basaltic lava flow from the Western Volcanic Zone in Iceland. The geometric parameters required to employ Jeffreysʼ and Hulmeʼs equations are accurately estimated from high-resolution HRSC-AX Digital Elevation Models. Samples collected along the lava flow are used to constrain a detailed model of the transient rheology as a function of cooling, crystallisation, and compositional evolution of the residual melt during emplacement. We observe that the viscosity derived from the morphology corresponds to the value estimated when significant crystallisation inhibits viscous deformation, causing the flow to halt. As a consequence, the inferred viscosity is highly dependent on the details of the crystallisation sequence and crystal shapes, and as such, is neither uniquely nor simply related to the bulk chemical composition of the erupted material. This conclusion, drawn for a mafic lava flow where crystallisation is the primary process responsible for the increase of the viscosity during emplacement, should apply to most of martian, lunar, or mercurian volcanic landforms, which are dominated by basaltic compositions. However, it may not apply to felsic lavas where vitrification resulting from degassing and cooling may ultimately cause lava flows to halt

Sintering of vesiculating pyroclasts

Hot volcanic pyroclasts can sinter, vesiculate, and outgas in concert – a combination of processes which remains poorly constrained. And yet this combination of processes can occur coincidently during deposition from pyroclastic density currents, in conduit-filling pyroclastic debris, and in tuffisites. In many of these settings, it is the sintering-driven evolution of permeability that is key to gas transport through the evolving deposit. Here, we experimentally and theoretically investigate the evolution of the permeable networks during sintering of hot fragmental volcanic systems, which are hydrous and oversaturated at the experimental conditions. Firstly, we find that vesiculation results in shutting of the inter-granular porous network as bubble growth drives expansion of the particles into one another, destroying interconnected pores. Secondly, we observe that degassing by diffusion out of the particle edge results in contraction of the vesicular particles, re-opening pore spaces between them. Therefore, we find that vesiculation, and diffusive outgassing compete to determine both the intra-fragment vesicularity and the permeability during sintering. The development of intra-fragment vesicularity directly impacts the inter-fragment pore space and its connectivity, which decreases during vesiculation and subsequently increases during diffusive outgassing, prompting complex, non-linear permeability evolution.The relative dominance of these processes is fragment size dependent; proportionally, fine fragments lose gas at a higher rate than coarser fragments during diffusive outgassing due to larger surface area to volume ratios. As the systems progress, larger fragments retain a higher proportion of gas and so attain greater vesicularities than finer ones – and therefore, the coarse fragmental pyroclasts experience a greater, yet transient, reduction in connected porosity and permeability. We suggest that where vesiculation is sufficient, it can lead to the complete loss of connected porosity and the sealing of permeable pathways much earlier than in a sintering-only system. Our results suggest that classical sintering models must be modified to account for these vesiculation and diffusive degassing processes, and that only a combined vesiculation, sintering, and diffusive outgassing model can resolve the evolution of permeability in hot clastic volcanic systems

Crystal plasticity as an indicator of the viscous-brittle transition in magmas

Understanding the flow of multi-phase (melt, crystals and bubbles) magmas is of great importance for interpreting eruption dynamics. Here we report the first observation of crystal plasticity, identified using electron backscatter diffraction, in plagioclase in andesite dome lavas from Volcán de Colima, Mexico. The same lavas, deformed experimentally at volcanic conduit temperature and load conditions, exhibit a further, systematic plastic response in the crystalline fraction, observable as a lattice misorientation. At higher stress, and higher crystal fraction, the amount of strain accommodated by crystal plasticity is larger. Crystal plastic distortion is highest in the intact segments of broken crystals, which have exceeded their plastic limit. We infer that crystal plasticity precludes failure and can punctuate the viscous-brittle transition in crystal-bearing magmas at certain shallow magmatic conditions. Since crystal plasticity varies systematically with imposed conditions, this raises the possibility that it may be used as a strain marker in well-constrained systems

Eruptive shearing of tube pumice: pure and simple

Abstract. Understanding the physico-chemical conditions extant and mechanisms operative during explosive volcanism is essential for reliable forecasting and mitigation of volcanic events. Rhyolitic pumices reflect highly vesiculated magma whose bubbles can serve as a strain indicator for inferring the state of stress operative immediately prior to eruptive fragmentation. Obtaining the full kinematic picture reflected in bubble population geometry has been extremely difficult, involving dissection of a small number of delicate samples. The advent of reliable high-resolution tomography has changed this situation radically. Here we demonstrate via the use of tomography how a statistically powerful picture of the shapes and connectivity of thousands of individual bubbles within a single sample of tube pumice emerges. The strain record of tube pumice is dominated by simple shear (not pure shear) in the late deformational history of vesicular magma before eruption. This constraint in turn implies that magma ascent is conditioned by a velocity gradient at the point of origin of tube pumice. Magma ascent accompanied by simple shear should enhance high eruption rates inferred independently for these highly viscous systems. </jats:p

Transcriptional Basis of Mouse and Human Dendritic Cell Heterogeneity

Dendritic cells (DCs) play a critical role in orchestrating adaptive immune responses due to their unique ability to initiate T cell responses and direct their differentiation into effector lineages. Classical DCs have been divided into two subsets, cDC1 and cDC2, based on phenotypic markers and their distinct abilities to prime CD8 and CD4 T cells. While the transcriptional regulation of the cDC1 subset has been well characterized, cDC2 development and function remain poorly understood. By combining transcriptional and chromatin analyses with genetic reporter expression, we identified two principal cDC2 lineages defined by distinct developmental pathways and transcriptional regulators, including T-bet and RORgt, two key transcription factors known to define innate and adaptive lymphocyte subsets. These novel cDC2 lineages were characterized by distinct metabolic and functional programs. Extending our findings to humans revealed conserved DC heterogeneity and the presence of the newly defined cDC2 subsets in human cancer