Lattice Boltzmann study of three-dimensional immiscible Rayleigh–Taylor instability in turbulent mixing stage

Abstract

In this paper, we numerically studied the late-time evolutional mechanism of three-dimensional (3D) single-mode immiscible Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) by using an improved lattice Boltzmann multiphase method implemented on graphics processing units. The influences of extensive dimensionless Reynolds numbers and Atwood numbers on phase interfacial dynamics, spike and bubble growth were investigated in details. The longtime numerical experiments indicate that the development of 3D singlemode RTI with a high Reynolds number can be summarized into four different stages: linear growth stage, saturated velocity growth stage, reacceleration stage and turbulent mixing stage. A series of complex interfacial structures with large topological changes can be observed at the turbulent mixing stage, which always preserve the symmetries with respect to the middle axis for a low Atwood number, and the lines of symmetry within spike and bubble are broken as the Atwood number is increased. Five statistical methods for computing the spike and bubble growth rates were then analyzed to reveal the growth law of 3D single-mode RTI in turbulent mixing stage. It is found that the spike late-time growth rate shows an overall increase with the Atwood number, while the bubble growth rate experiences a slight decrease with the Atwood number at first and then basically maintains a steady value of around 0.1. When the Reynolds number decreases, the later stages cannot be reached gradually and the evolution of phase interface presents a laminar flow state.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

lattice Boltzmann / phase field / Rayleigh–Taylor instability / computational fluid dynamics / interfacial instability

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