Collaborative Research: Multi-scale Dynamics in Explosive Volcanic Eruptions

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Explosive volcanic eruptions are some of the most energetic flows on the planet, the largest of which can have global impact. The more common, smaller, events are a proximal hazard and still encompass scales of several kilometers. Despite their large size and long duration, mass and energy transfer in these flows are fundamentally controlled by processes at much smaller spatial and temporal scales, where individual particles interact with each other, with gas, or with the surface over which the flows travel. Our ability to predict large-scale behavior of volcanic flows can ultimately be limited by our understanding of very small-scale, or microphysical, processes. This proposal examines a suite of particle-scale mass and energy transfer mechanisms in the laboratory with the aim of understanding the physics of these processes and to incorporate them into large-scale simulations of explosive volcanic eruptions. One of the long term goals of this effort is to provide a technology for students, scientists and civil officials to better understand hazards during times of volcanic unrest.Advances in computational power and algorithm design enable detailed studies of the turbulent structures that develop in explosive volcanic eruptions. However, even with increases in computational resources, achieving resolution below meter-scale in large-scale three-dimensional simulations may never be possible. Accounting for subgrid-scale physical processes requires developing constitutive relationships for volcanic materials and conditions. Past work on steam explosions has shown that subgrid models developed from experiments can be readily coupled to multiphase numerical simulations. More importantly, these subgrid relations are critical for predicting the dynamics reflected in volcanic deposits; models that neglect subgrid processes can fail to produce the energy transfer manifest in volcanic deposits by several orders of magnitude. This work will focus on 1) heat transfer between particles and gas, 2) comminution and agglomeration in active flows and the impact of a evolving grain size distribution on the dynamics of flows, and 3) particle-boundary interactions, and in particular the role of resuspended particles from the bed. All of the proposed experiments will be conducted with materials and conditions similar to those in natural flows, minimizing the potential difficulties with scaling to large-scale multiphase flows. In the methodology proposed, the numerical models are integrally connected to the experimental data. The dual approach emphasizes the strength of both techniques: the strength of numerical models is the ability to solve non-linear, complexly coupled equations and determine emergent behavior, and the strength of the experiments is to understand in detail the physical processes operating at small scales.