Suppression of Rayleigh{endash}Taylor instability by flow curvature

Journal Article · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.872267· OSTI ID:542611

Sen, S; Storer, R G ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001 (Australia)

The question of whether it is the shear [V(r){sup {prime}}] or the curvature [V(r){sup {double_prime}}] in the flow profile [V(r)] which plays the dominant role in suppressing the low-frequency ({omega}{lt}{omega}{sub i}, where {omega}{sub i} is the ion gyrofrequency) instabilities and fluctuations is investigated. Rayleigh{endash}Taylor (RT) instability is considered in this work. The role of flow curvature is found to have a robust effect on the stability and on the radial structure of the mode. For a positive value in the flow curvature RT is suppressed whereas a negative flow curvature excites the mode. Flow shear, on the other hand, plays an insignificant role in this matter. These theoretical findings are in agreement with the recent experimental results. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}

• OSTI ID: 542611
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 4; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BOUNDARY LAYERS
FLUCTUATIONS
FLUID FLOW
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PLASMA INSTABILITY
RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY
SHEAR