Roll waves on a shallow layer of mud modelled as a power-law fluid

We give a theory of permanent roll waves on a shallow layer of fluid mud which is modelled as a power-law fluid. Based on the long-wave approximation, Karman’s momentum integral method is applied to derive the averaged continuity and the momentum equations. Linearized instability analysis of a uniform flow shows that the growth rate of unstable disturbances increases monotonically with the wavenumber, and therefore is insufficient to suggest a preferred wavelength for the roll wave. Nonlinear roll waves are obtained next as periodic shocks connected by smooth profiles with depth increasing monotonically from the rear to the front. Among all wavelengths only those longer than a certain threshold correspond to positive energy loss across the shock, and are physically acceptable. This threshold also implies a minimum discharge, viewed in the moving system, for the roll wave to exist. These facts suggest that a roll wave developed spontaneously from infinitesimal disturbances should have the shortest wavelength corresponding to zero dissipation across the shock, though finite dissipation elsewhere. The discontinuity at the wave front is a mathematical shortcoming needing a local requirement. Predictions for the spontaneously developed roll waves in a Newtonian case are compared with available experimental data. Longer roll waves, with dissipation at the discontinuous fronts, cannot be maintained if the uniform flow is linearly stable, when the fluid is slightly non-Newtonian. However, when the fluid is highly non-Newtonian, very long roll waves may still exist even if the corresponding uniform flow is stable to infinitesimal disturbances. Numerical results are presented for the phase speed, wave height and wavenumber, and wave profiles for a representative value of the flow index of fluid mud.