Low Atwood Number Research Articles

Investigation of strong isothermal stratification effects on multi-mode compressible Rayleigh–Taylor instability

Rayleigh–Taylor instability, RTI, occurs at the interface separating two fluids subjected to acceleration when the density gradient and the acceleration are in opposite directions. Previous scientific research primarily considered RTI under the incompressible assumption, which may not be valid in many high-energy-density engineering applications and astrophysical phenomena. In this study, the compressibility effects of the background isothermal stratification strength on multi-mode two-dimensional RTI are explored using fully compressible multi-species direct numerical simulations. Cases under three different isothermal Mach numbers – Ma=0.15, 0.3, and 0.45 – are investigated to explore weakly, moderately, and strongly stratified compressible RTI, respectively, at an Atwood number of 0.04. Unlike incompressible RTI, an increase in the flow compressibility through the strength of the background stratification can suppress the RTI growth and can lead to a termination of the RTI mixing layer growth with a highly molecularly mixed state. Our findings suggest that even at the chosen relatively low Atwood number, the variable-density effects can be significantly enhanced due to an increase in the background stratification for the compressible RTI as different spatial profiles become noticeably asymmetric across the mixing layer for the strongly stratified case. In addition, this study compares the chaotic behavior of the cases by studying the transport of the turbulent kinetic energy as well as the vortex dynamics. The Reynolds number dependence of the results is also examined with three different Reynolds numbers, and the findings for the large-scale mixing and flow quantities of interest are shown to be universal in the range of the Reynolds numbers studied.

Direct numerical simulations of incompressible Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities at low and medium Atwood numbers

Direct numerical simulations of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D), single-mode and multi-mode, incompressible immiscible Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instabilities are performed using a phase-field approach and high-order finite-difference schemes. Various combinations of Atwood number, Reynolds number, surface tension, and initial perturbation amplitude are investigated. It is found that at high Reynolds numbers, the surface tension, if significant, could prevent the formation of Kelvin–Helmholtz type instabilities within the bubble region. A relationship is proposed for the vertical distance of the bubble and spike vs the Atwood number. The spike and bubble reaccelerate after reaching a temporary plateau due to the reduction of the friction drag as a result of the formation of the spike vortices and also the formation of a momentum jet traveling upward within the bubble region. The interface for a 3D single-mode instability grows exponentially; however, a higher Reynolds number and/or a lower Atwood number could result in a noticeably larger surface area after the initial growth. It is also shown that a 3D multi-mode RT instability initially displays an exponential interface growth rate similar to single-mode RT instabilities. Due to the collapse and merging of individual single-mode instabilities, the interface area for a multi-mode RT instability is strongly dependent to the mesh resolution after the exponential growth rate. However, the ratio of kinetic energy over released potential energy exhibits an almost steady state after the initial exponential growth, with values around 0.4, independently of the mesh resolution.

Two- and three-dimensional simulations of Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities using a coupled Cahn–Hilliard/Navier–Stokes model

We report on two- and three-dimensional numerical simulations of Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities in immiscible fluids. A diffuse-interface model that combines the Cahn–Hilliard equation, governing the evolution of the volume fraction of one fluid, and the Navier–Stokes equations, governing the bulk velocity and pressure, is used. The study is limited to low Atwood numbers owing to the use of the Boussinesq approximation. The code is based on a pseudo-spectral method. A linear analysis is first performed in a two-dimensional case of Rayleigh–Taylor instability to confirm that the model very well captures this phenomenon in the case of inviscid or viscid fluids. One key aspect of this work is that the influence of the thermodynamic parameters related to the Cahn–Hilliard equation (interface thickness and mobility) is quantitively studied. Three-dimensional results of Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities in viscous fluids are then presented to show the possibilities of this modeling. We observe the effect of the viscosity and the wavelength of an initial single-mode perturbation on the mass transport during the nonlinear regime.

Variable-density buoyancy-driven turbulence with asymmetric initial density distribution

The effects of different initial density distributions on the evolution of buoyancy-driven homogeneous variable-density turbulence (HVDT) at low (0.05) and high (0.75) Atwood numbers are studied by using high-resolution direct numerical simulations. HVDT aims to mimic the acceleration-driven Rayleigh–Taylor and shock-driven Richtmyer–Meshkov instabilities and reveals new physics that arise from variable-density effects on the turbulent mixing. Here, the initial amounts of pure light and pure heavy flows are altered primarily to mimic the variable-density turbulence at the different locations of the Rayleigh–Taylor and Richtmyer–Meshkov instabilities’ mixing layers where the amounts of the mixing fluids are not equal. It is found that for the low Atwood number cases, the asymmetric initial density distribution has limited effects on both global and local flow evolution for HVDT. However, at high Atwood number, both global flow evolution and the local flow structures are strongly affected by the initial composition ratio. The flow composed of more light fluid reaches higher turbulent levels and the local statistics reach their fully-developed behavior earlier in the time evolution. During the late time decay, where most of the flow is well-mixed, all parameters become independent of the initial composition ratio for both low and high Atwood number cases.

Extracting a mixing parameter from 2D radiographic imaging of variable-density turbulent flow

We extract a suitably averaged fluctuating density from the two-dimensional radiographic image of a flow. The X-ray attenuation is given by the Beer–Lambert law which exponentially damps the incident beam intensity by a factor proportional to the density, opacity and thickness of the target. By making reasonable assumptions for the mean density, opacity and effective thickness of the target flow, we estimate the density fluctuation contribution to the attenuation. The extracted density fluctuations averaged across the thickness of the flow in the direction of the beam may be used to form the density–specific-volume correlation b. In a statistical description of variable-density turbulence, b quantifies the degree of mixedness. The ability to extract a measure of mixedness from experimental data would be a powerful tool that could be used in the validation of mix models. The scheme proposed is tested for DNS data computed for variable density buoyancy-driven mixing. We quantify the deficits in the extracted value of b due to target thickness, Atwood number and modeled signal noise. This analysis justifies using the proposed scheme to infer the mix parameter from thin targets at moderate to low Atwood numbers. To illustrate how the scheme might be used in a practical problem, we demonstrate its application to a radiographic image of counter-shear flow obtained from experiments at the National Ignition Facility.

Direct numerical simulations of multi-mode immiscible Rayleigh-Taylor instability with high Reynolds numbers

In this paper, we conduct the high-resolution direct numerical simulations of multimode immiscible Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) with a low Atwood number (At = 0.1) using an improved phase field lattice Boltzmann method. The effect of the Reynolds number on the evolutional interfacial dynamics and bubble/spike amplitudes is first investigated by considering its wide range, from 100 up to a high value of 30 000. The numerical results show that, for sufficiently large Reynolds numbers, a sequence of distinguishing stages in the immiscible RTI can be observed, which includes the linear growth, saturated velocity growth, and chaotic development stages. At the late stage, the RTI induces a complex topology structure of the interface and a mass of dissociative drops can be significantly observed in the system. The accelerations of the bubble and spike front are also measured, and it is reported that their normalized values at the late time are, respectively, approximate to the constant values of around 0.025 and 0.027, exhibiting a terminally quadratic growth. As the Reynolds number is reduced to small ones, the multiple disturbances of the RTI are found to merge into a larger one at the initial stage. Then, the evolutional interfaces display the patterns familiar from the single-mode RTI. The phase interfaces in the whole process become very smooth without the appearance of the breakup phenomenon, and the spike and bubble velocities at the late time approach constant values. Furthermore, we also analyze the effects of the initial conditions in terms of the perturbation wavelength and amplitude, and it is found that the instability undergoes a faster growth at the intermediate stage for a larger wavelength, while the late-time bubble and spike growth rates are insensitive to the changes of the initially perturbed wavelength and amplitude.

Front dynamics in exchange flow of two immiscible iso-viscous fluids in two-dimensional straight and curved plane channels

Exchange flow of two immiscible fluids at a low Atwood number in a straight and curved plane channel is considered in this analytical study. The fluids are considered immiscible, but practically, the results can be applied to miscible fluids for short times and in nearly horizontal channels where mixing is negligible due to strong segregation. The exchange flow and displacement flow in pipes at different inclinations with respect to vertical have been extensively studied and have many applications in industry or environmental settings. For the case of plane two-dimensional channels, however, because of the simpler geometry, it is more convenient to understand the physics of the problem and formulate the physical phenomena mathematically. An equation has been derived that describes the transient front velocity in exchange flow in a straight plane channel. The steady state front velocity in straight channels is estimated. The exchange flow in curved channels demonstrates an unstable front or a separated trail because of the curvature of the path. In the case of curved channels, some of the general behavior of the interface is predicted and validated against some experimental observations in curved pipes but quantitative analysis of the interface and the flow requires more advanced mathematical formulation and more detailed experiments for validation.

Two-point spectral model for variable-density homogeneous turbulence

We study buoyancy-driven variable-density homogeneous turbulence with a two-point spectral closure model and assess model accuracy relative to direct numerical simulations using standard metrics. The model captures statistics of spectral distributions and global means at low and high Atwood numbers.

Effects of Atwood number on shock focusing in shock–cylinder interaction

The evolution of shock-accelerated heavy-gas cylinder surrounded by the air with different Atwood numbers ( $$A_t=0.28, 0.50, 0.63$$ ) is investigated, concentrating on shock focusing and jet formation. Experimentally, a soap film technique is used to generate an ideal two-dimensional discontinuous gas cylinder with a clear surface, which can guarantee the observation of shock wave movements inside the cylinder. Different Atwood numbers are realized by different mixing ratios of $$\hbox {SF}_6$$ and air inside the cylinder. A high-speed schlieren system is adopted to capture the shock motions and jet morphology. Numerical simulations are also performed to provide more information. The results indicate that an inward jet is formed for low Atwood numbers, while an outward jet is generated for high Atwood numbers. Different Atwood numbers will lead to the differences in the relative velocities between the incident shock and the refraction shock, which ultimately results in the differences in shock competition near the downstream pole. The morphology and feature of the jet are closely associated with the position and intensity of shock focusing. The pressure and vorticity contours indicate that the jet formation should be attributed to the pressure pulsation caused by shock focusing, and the jet development is ascribed to the vorticity induction. Finally, a time ratio proposed in the previous work for determining the shock-focusing type is verified by experiments.

Vortex simulations of the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability with surface tension in density-stratified flows

In this paper, we study long-time evolutions of the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability with surface tension and density jump by using the vortex sheet model. Applying a spectrally accurate numerical method, we investigate effects of surface tension and density jump on the instability in various regimes of parameters. The numerical results show that by varying the density ratio, the large-scale feature of the roll-up of the interface is basically similar, but the structure of the inner roll-up is significantly different. At high Weber numbers, the interface collides with itself at the finger tip for low Atwood numbers, but for high Atwood numbers, the finger is pinched off. The dispersive waves and corrugations on the interface are more prominent for low Atwood numbers. For a very high Weber number, the finger of the interface becomes small, while for a low Weber number, the interface has a structure of long filament. Results for initial multi-mode perturbations show the competition and merging of fingers as well as pinching and elongation.

Self-similarity of a Rayleigh–Taylor mixing layer at low Atwood number with a multimode initial perturbation

ABSTRACTHigh-fidelity large eddy simulation (LES) of a low-Atwood number (A = 0.05) Rayleigh–Taylor mixing layer is performed using the 10th-order compact difference code Miranda. An initial multimode perturbation spectrum is specified in Fourier space as a function of mesh resolution such that a database of results is obtained in which each successive level of increased grid resolution corresponds approximately to one additional doubling of the mixing layer width, or generation. The database is then analysed to determine approximate requirements for self-similarity, and a new metric is proposed to quantify how far a given simulation is from the limit of self-similarity. It is determined that mixing layer growth reaches a high degree of self-similarity after approximately 4.5 generations. Statistical convergence errors and boundary effects at late time, however, make it impossible to draw similar conclusions regarding the self-similar growth of more sensitive turbulence parameters. Finally, self-similar turbulence profiles from the LES database are compared with one-dimensional simulations using the k-L-a and BHR-2 Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes models. The k-L-a model, which is calibrated to reproduce a quadratic turbulence kinetic energy profile for a self-similar mixing layer, is found to be in better agreement with the LES than BHR-2 results.

Nonlinear effects in buoyancy-driven variable-density turbulence

We consider the time dependence of a hierarchy of scaled $L^{2m}$-norms $D_{m,\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}}$ and $D_{m,\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}}$ of the vorticity $\unicode[STIX]{x1D74E}=\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}\times \boldsymbol{u}$ and the density gradient $\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}$, where $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}=\log (\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}^{\ast }/\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{0}^{\ast })$, in a buoyancy-driven turbulent flow as simulated by Livescu & Ristorcelli (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 591, 2007, pp. 43–71). Here, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}^{\ast }(\boldsymbol{x},t)$ is the composition density of a mixture of two incompressible miscible fluids with fluid densities $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{2}^{\ast }>\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{1}^{\ast }$, and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{0}^{\ast }$ is a reference normalization density. Using data from the publicly available Johns Hopkins turbulence database, we present evidence that the $L^{2}$-spatial average of the density gradient $\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}$ can reach extremely large values at intermediate times, even in flows with low Atwood number $At=(\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{2}^{\ast }-\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{1}^{\ast })/(\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{2}^{\ast }+\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{1}^{\ast })=0.05$, implying that very strong mixing of the density field at small scales can arise in buoyancy-driven turbulence. This large growth raises the possibility that the density gradient $\unicode[STIX]{x1D735}\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}$ might blow up in a finite time.

Lattice Boltzmann simulation of three-dimensional Rayleigh-Taylor instability.

In this paper, the three-dimensional (3D) Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) with low Atwood number (A(t)=0.15) in a long square duct (12W × W × W) is studied by using a multiple-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann (LB) multiphase model. The effect of the Reynolds number on the interfacial dynamics and bubble and spike amplitudes at late time is investigated in detail. The numerical results show that at sufficiently large Reynolds numbers, a sequence of stages in the 3D immiscible RTI can be observed, which includes the linear growth, terminal velocity growth, reacceleration, and chaotic development stages. At late stage, the RTI induces a very complicated topology structure of the interface, and an abundance of dissociative drops are also observed in the system. The bubble and spike velocities at late stage are unstable and their values have exceeded the predictions of the potential flow theory [V. N. Goncharov, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 134502 (2002)]. The acceleration of the bubble front is also measured and it is found that the normalized acceleration at late time fluctuates around a constant value of 0.16. When the Reynolds number is reduced to small values, some later stages cannot be reached sequentially. The interface becomes relatively smoothed and the bubble velocity at late time is approximate to a constant value, which coincides with the results of the extended Layzer model [S.-I. Sohn, Phys. Rev. E 80, 055302(R) (2009)] and the modified potential theory [R. Banerjee, L. Mandal, S. Roy, M. Khan, and M. R. Guptae, Phys. Plasmas 18, 022109 (2011)]. In our simulations, the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) parallel computing is also used to relieve the massive computational cost.

Comprehensive numerical methodology for direct numerical simulations of compressible Rayleigh–Taylor instability

An investigation of compressible Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) using Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) requires efficient numerical methods, advanced boundary conditions, and consistent initialization in order to capture the wide range of scales and vortex dynamics present in the system, while reducing the computational impact associated with acoustic wave generation and the subsequent interaction with the flow. An advanced computational framework is presented that handles the challenges introduced by considering the compressive nature of RTI systems, which include sharp interfacial density gradients on strongly stratified background states, acoustic wave generation and removal at computational boundaries, and stratification dependent vorticity production. The foundation of the numerical methodology described here is the wavelet-based grid adaptivity of the Parallel Adaptive Wavelet Collocation Method (PAWCM) that maintains symmetry in single-mode RTI systems to extreme late-times. PAWCM is combined with a consistent initialization, which reduces the generation of acoustic disturbances, and effective boundary treatments, which prevent acoustic reflections. A dynamic time integration scheme that can handle highly nonlinear and potentially stiff systems, such as compressible RTI, completes the computational framework. The numerical methodology is used to simulate two-dimensional single-mode RTI to extreme late-times for a wide range of flow compressibility and variable density effects. The results show that flow compressibility acts to reduce the growth of RTI for low Atwood numbers, as predicted from linear stability analysis.

Density and velocity statistics in variable density turbulent mixing

We experimentally study variable–density mixing of miscible gases in an open-circuit wind tunnel using simultaneous particle image velocimetry and planar laser-induced fluorescence. Experiments of a high Atwood number (0.6) and low Atwood number (0.1) are performed to compare non-Boussinesq cases with the Boussinesq limit. The higher density gas is injected into the wind tunnel co-flow using a round jet configuration, and near-field and far-field measurements are performed to examine mixing in both momentum and buoyancy-dominated regimes. The effects of buoyancy are measurable and important in both large-scale mixing features and in turbulence quantities. The low Atwood number PDFs (probability density functions) show fast and uniform mixing. The high Atwood number PDFs of density have skewness towards the larger densities, indicating less mixing of the heavy fluid due to its inertia. The skewness in the density gradient PDFs at high Atwood number displays strong density local variations that can enhance mixing at molecular scales. Turbulent kinetic energy decreases with streamwise distance from the jet for low Atwood number but increases for high Atwood number due to larger buoyancy and density-driven shear. Over 3000 experimental realisations are used to calculate statistical characteristics of the mixing, including valuable and rarely given data such as Favre-averaged turbulent quantities: mass flux velocity, Reynolds stress, turbulent kinetic energy, and density-specific volume correlation. Buoyancy effects are observed in these quantities and the trends are compared qualitatively with direct numerical simulations.

Three-equation model for the self-similar growth of Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meskov instabilities.

In the present work, the two-equation k-L model [G. Dimonte and R. Tipton, Phys. Fluids 18, 085101 (2006)] is extended by the addition of a third equation for the mass-flux velocity. A set of model constants is derived to satisfy an ansatz of self-similarity in the low Atwood number limit. The model is then applied to the simulation of canonical Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov test problems in one dimension and is demonstrated to reproduce analytical self-similar growth and to recover growth rates used to constrain the model.

Numerical investigation of self-similar unstably stratified homogeneous turbulence

New numerical results concerning unstably stratified homogeneous turbulence are presented. The system of equations considered gives the dynamics of homogeneous incompressible binary mixtures submitted to a gravity field in the low Atwood number limit (Boussinesq approximation). It allows to gain insight into several characteristics relevant to buoyancy driven turbulent mixing, such as unsteadiness and anisotropy. In this work, the dependency of the asymptotic self-similar states on different dissipation processes is extensively explored. The resulting states are shown to agree with recent theoretical predictions based on a large scale dynamics analysis.

Effect of initial conditions on Rayleigh–Taylor mixing: modal interaction

Experimental investigation of the interaction of different modes of the initial conditions on Rayleigh–Taylor mixing was performed using the Water Channel facility at Texas A&M University. Hot and cold water (with a temperature difference of ∼7–8 °C) selected as working fluids were unstably stratified using a splitter plate resulting in a low Atwood number of the order of 10−3. Interaction of multiple (up to 3) modes of the initial condition was studied by varying the wavelengths and phase angles that were generated at the interface of these fluids. Using a servo controlled flapper system, wavelengths were varied between 2 and 8 cm and phase angles within 0–180°, and the dependence of ensemble averaged mixing width in the early stages of growth on initial conditions is studied. High-resolution images of the flowfield indicate that changing the phase angle results in the leaning phenomenon, i.e. the leaning of bubbles and spikes with respect to gravitational acceleration and relative to each other. For the experiments with the binary-mode initial condition with a fixed wavelength ratio, λ1/λ2, of 4.0, variation of the phase angle does not significantly affect the ensemble-averaged mixing width. Mixing rate data from ensemble averaging indicates greater dissipation rates at the initial times that taper off logarithmically to the order of mean kinematic viscosity at later times.

Single-mode bubble evolution simulations of Rayleigh Taylor instability with spectral element method and a viscous model

Based on the single-mode potential model of Jacobs and Rikanati, Firstly, a viscous single-mode bubble evolution model of Rayleigh Taylor instability (RTI) is developed in this study. Viscous effects of RTI’s early stage growth for low Atwood number have been explained. In addition, direct numerical simulations of single mode RTI are studied with Navier–Stokes equations and a transport-diffusive equation for miscible fluids, in which these equations are discritized with discontinuous Galerkin (DG) spectral element method. The turbulent mixing of RTI has kinetic energy dissipation, and the dissipation rate is determined by the inertial and viscous effects. Therefore, the numerical techniques must include a dissipation mechanism for kinetic energy. For this reason, the high accurate spectral element method is employed in this study. Agreement between the theoretical model and the numerical results shows that simulations of RTI is feasible using the mathematical miscible fluid model. The results also suggest that a high order numerical method may provide the capability of simulating small scale fluctuations in turbulent flows with RTI.

A viscous vortex single-mode bubble evolution model of Rayleigh Taylor instability and its numerical study

This paper has developed a viscous single-mode bubble evolution model of Rayleigh Taylor Instabilities (RTIs), which is an extension of the single-mode potential models of Jacobs and Rikanati. The viscous vortex model explained the viscous effects of its early stage of RTI development for low Atwood number flow. Furthermore, direct numerical simulations of RTI are studied with Navier-Stokes equations and a transport-diffusive equation. Agreement between the theoretical model and the numerical results shows that simulations of these instabilities are feasible using the mathematical miscible fluid model simulating RTI.