Buoyancy-driven crack propagation from an over-pressured source

Roper, S.M. and Lister, J.R. (2005) Buoyancy-driven crack propagation from an over-pressured source. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 536, pp. 79-98. (doi: 10.1017/S0022112005004337)

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Abstract

The propagation of a liquid-filled crack from an over-pressured source into a semi-infinite uniform elastic solid is studied. The fluid is lighter than the solid and propagates due to its buoyancy and to the source over-pressure. The role of this over-pressure at early and late times is considered and it is found that the combination of buoyancy and over-pressure leads to significantly different behaviour from buoyancy or over-pressure alone. Lubrication theory is used to describe the flow, where the pressure in the fluid is determined by the elastic deformation of the solid due to the presence of the crack. Numerical results for the evolution of the crack shape and speed are obtained. The crack grows exponentially at early times, but at later times, when buoyancy becomes important, the crack growth accelerates towards a finite-time blow-up. These results are explained by asymptotic similarity solutions for early and late times. The predictions of these solutions are in close agreement with the full numerical results. A different case of crack geometry is also considered in order to highlight connections with previous work. The geological application to magma-filled cracks in the Earth's crust, or dykes, is discussed.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Roper, Dr Steven
Authors: Roper, S.M., and Lister, J.R.
Subjects:Q Science > QC Physics
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Mathematics and Statistics > Mathematics
Journal Name:Journal of Fluid Mechanics
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
ISSN:0022-1120
ISSN (Online):1469-7645
Published Online:26 July 2005
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2005 Cambridge University Press
First Published:First published in Journal of Fluid Mechanics 536:79-98
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.

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