3-D simulations to investigate initial condition effects on the growth of Rayleigh-Taylor mixing

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2008 · International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

OSTI ID:960539

Andrews, Malcolm J ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory

The effect of initial conditions on the growth rate of turbulent Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) mixing has been studied using carefully formulated numerical simulations. An integrated large-eddy simulation (ILES) that uses a finite-volume technique was employed to solve the three-dimensional incompressible Euler equations with numerical dissipation. The initial conditions were chosen to test the dependence of the RT growth parameters ({alpha}{sub b}, {alpha}{sub s}) on variations in (a) the spectral bandwidth, (b) the spectral shape, and (c) discrete banded spectra. Our findings support the notion that the overall growth of the RT mixing is strongly dependent on initial conditions. Variation in spectral shapes and bandwidths are found to have a complex effect of the late time development of the RT mixing layer, and raise the question of whether we can design RT transition and turbulence based on our choice of initial conditions. In addition, our results provide a useful database for the initialization and development of closures describing RT transition and turbulence.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 960539
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-08-06077; LA-UR-08-6077
• Journal Information: International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Journal Name: International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer; ISSN IJHMAK; ISSN 0017-9310
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
EQUATIONS
GROWTH
LARGE-EDDY SIMULATION
MIXING
RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY
SHAPE
SIMULATION
SPECTRA
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TURBULENCE
VARIATIONS