Open AccessThe Influence of Crystal Size Distributions on the Rheology of Magmas: New Insights From Analog Experiments
Author(s) -
Klein Johannes,
Mueller Sebastian P.,
Castro Jonathan M.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.928
H-Index - 136
ISSN - 1525-2027
DOI - 10.1002/2017gc007114
Subject(s) - rheology , dispersity , particle (ecology) , viscosity , particle size , bimodality , suspension (topology) , materials science , unimodality , particle size distribution , mineralogy , geology , mechanics , statistics , composite material , mathematics , polymer chemistry , physics , paleontology , quantum mechanics , homotopy , galaxy , pure mathematics , oceanography
This study examines the influence of particle‐size distributions on the rheology of particle suspensions by using analog experiments with spherical glass beads in silicone oil as a magma equivalent. The analyses of 274 individual particle‐bearing suspensions of varying modality (unimodality, bimodality, trimodality, and tetramodality), as well as of polymodal suspensions with specific defined skewness and variance, are the first data set of its kind and provide important insights into the relationship between the solid particles of a suspension and its rheological behavior. Since the relationship between the rheology of particle‐bearing suspensions and its maximum packing fractionϕ mis well established by several theoretical models, the results of the analog experiments of this study reveal that the polydispersity γ exerts the largest influence onϕ m . Consequently, the estimation of the polydispersity γ of a particle‐size distribution is essential for estimating the viscosity of that given suspension.