Chapter 10

Viscous Flow

The dramatic scene pictured above shows straight-limbed chevron-like folds in Cretaceous strata in the footwall of the Lewis Thrust, Canadian Rockies, from the Kananaskis Highway between Banff and Blairmore, looking south (photo by David Wiltschko). Structures like these suggest the rocks underwent continuous flow. The aim this chapter is to establish familiarity with the formulation and analysis of models involving slow, creeping viscous flow. Models are developed analytically, although some require numerical implementation to evaluate results. Current research in this area often uses numerical codes based on finite-element or finite-difference methods for solving the field equations subject to boundary conditions. The models or boundary-value problems examined here provide preparatory experience and insight necessary to use these numerical methods and understand these phenomena.

Exercises

Concepts from Chapter 10

These exercises explore concepts from Chapter 10 including building ones intuition about viscosities that range over 10 orders of magnitude or more; the design and use of viscometers for measuring the apparent viscosity; a simple model for the flow of magma or ice down a slope; and the relationships among the thermodynamic pressure, the mean normal pressure, and the static pressure in fluids.