S U M M A R Y The subduction of lithospheric plates is partitioned between subducting platemotion and lateral slab migration (i.e. trench retreat and advance). We use 3-D, dynamic models of subduction to address the role of a power-law mantle viscosity on subduction dynamics and, in particular, rates of trench retreat. For all numerical models tested, we find that a power-law rheology results i...

The non-Newtonian shear rheology of colloidal dispersions is the result of the competition and balance between hydrodynamic (dissipative) and thermodynamic (conservative) forces that lead to a nonequilibrium microstructure under flow. We present the first experimental measurements of the shear induced microstructure of a concentrated, near hard-sphere colloidal dispersion through the shear thic...

Numerical simulation can provide a useful tool for investigating the dynamics of phenomena like rock avalanches, within realistic geological contexts and in the framework of a better risk assessment and decision making. Difficulties in numerical modelling of a heterogeneous moving mass are mainly linked to the simulation of the complex behaviour assumed by the mass during propagation. The numer...

While colloidal suspensions of nonspherical particles have been studied for decades, most work has focused on describing their behavior in flows with simple time behavior. Little is known about their behavior in flows with complex variations in time, and in particular, the possibility of varying the flow to control the suspension’s properties. Here, we take advantage of a recent solution for th...

We use large scale computer simulations and finite-size scaling analysis to study the shear rheology of dense three-dimensional suspensions of frictionless non-Brownian particles in the vicinity of the jamming transition. We perform simulations of soft repulsive particles at constant shear rate, constant pressure, and finite system size and carefully study the asymptotic limits of large system ...