Thermal and rheological aspects in a channeled lava flow

We investigated the cooling of a lava flow in the steady state considering that lava rheology is pseudoplastic and dependent on temperature. We consider that cooling of the lava is caused by thermal radiation at the surface into the atmosphere and thermal conduction at the channel walls and at the ground. The heat equation is solved numerically in a 3D computational domain. The fraction of crust coverage is calculated under the assumption that the solid lava is a plastic body with temperature dependent yield strength.We applied the results to the Mauna Loa (1984) lava flow. Results indicate that the advective heat transport significantly modifies the cooling rate of lava slowing down the cooling process also for gentle slope.