Air Phase Entrapment Role in Hydrophobic Particle-Water-Air Mixtures
Internal Structure and Density
Abstract
Post-wildfire mudflows, in which more than half of the solids are sand
or smaller, destroy the watershed environment, life, and
infrastructures. The surficial soil particles turn hydrophobic due to
the deposition of combusted organic matter during wildfires. Initiated
by raindrops splash, runoff and erosion grow into devastating mudflows,
quickly blasting obstacles on the way, and carrying large boulders and
debris. The internal composition of post-wildfire mudflows has recently
become of interest, intending to understand better mechanisms and
transport differences between post-wildfire mudflows and
non-post-wildfire mudflows. This paper shows critical new insights into
how the air got entrapped during the early stage of mudflow and how air
entrapment affects the properties of post-wildfire mudflows as a mixture
of air bubbles, water, and hydrophobic sand. This paper proposes and
experimentally investigates a new paradigm in which a significant amount
of air remains entrapped in post-wildfire mudflow via
hydrophobic-particle-air attraction. The mudflow mixture’s internal
structure depends on the physical state of small liquid marbles, which
are small air bubbles covered by hydrophobic sand particles. This paper
quantifies the amount of air trapped under different sand-water
volumetric concentrations, the effects of mixing speeds (energy), mixing
duration, and sand particle size on the final mudflow internal
structure. In addition, this paper proposes an empirical estimation of
density reductions due to air entrapment in the mixture during the
mixing process.