Analysis of Rayleigh-Taylor flows using vortex blobs

Technical Report · Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1986

OSTI ID:7167260

Kerr, R M

A modification of a boundary-integral method is used to study the single-scale Rayleigh-Taylor instability for arbitrary Atwood number. The modifications are designed to extend the calculation through several singular events. Smoothing the Green's function using vortex blobs suppresses singularities in the curvature. Second-order central differences along the interface are used to accommodate spikes in the vorticity. Spreading the nodes evenly along the interface can be used to suppress clustering of nodes. To achieve second-order accuracy in time when the nodes are spread an extra predictor step is needed that shifts the nodes before the variables are advanced. The method successfully follows the development of a single mode to states with asymptotic velocities for the bubble and spike that depend on Atwood number and are independent of the blob size. Incipient droplet formation is observed. 38 refs., 36 figs.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 7167260
• Report Number(s): UCID-20915; ON: DE87002836
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640410* -- Fluid Physics-- General Fluid Dynamics
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
DATA
FLUID FLOW
INFORMATION
INSTABILITY
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
NUMERICAL DATA
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY
THEORETICAL DATA
TIME DEPENDENCE
VORTICES