Adam Neather

Citation

Thesis Title
Experimental Investigations of Granular Matter Flow Regimes leading to Insight into Lahar Flow Dynamics

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Lahars are granular flows with a volcanic origin, and are capable of being extremely destructive. Studies to date have focused on their eventual deposits, but this is of limited value when trying to understand the internal mechanics of a lahar. Mr Neather used a rotating drum to create miniature ‘lahars’ in the laboratory. By examining these ‘lahars’ with high-speed footage, it was possible to gain information on real lahars. The drum was coupled with a variety of materials, and by rotating at different velocities, it was able to recreate a variety of flow regimes within the materials. The differences in internal mechanics as a function of the velocity of drum and material in question was studied, both quantitatively and qualitatively. It was found that the mechanics were more complicated than previously thought, and multiple phenomena were observed that were not reported in the literature and had implications for hazard planners.

Supervisors
Professor Jim Jones
Professor Shane Cronin
Professor Gert Lube