All Courses
All Courses
Courses by Software
Courses by Semester
Courses by Domain
Tool-focused Courses
Machine learning
POPULAR COURSES
Success Stories
Objectives: What are some practical CFD models that have been based on the mathematical analysis of Rayleigh Taylor waves? In your own words, explain how these mathematical models have been adapted for CFD calculations. Perform the Rayleigh Taylor instability simulation for 2 different mesh sizes with the base mesh being…
Syed Saquib
updated on 08 Jun 2023
Objectives:
Procedure:
Introduction:
Rayleigh Taylor Instability :
The Rayleigh–Taylor instability is an instability of an interface between two fluids of different densities which occurs when the lighter fluid is pushing the heavier fluid. Examples include the behaviour of water suspended above oil in the gravity of Earth ,mushroom clouds like those from volcanic eruptions and atmospheric nuclear explosion, supernova explosions in which expanding core gas is accelerated into denser shell gas, instabilities in plasma fusion reactors and inertial confinement fusion.
Some practical CFD models that have been based on the mathematical analysis of Rayleigh Taylor waves are:
This instability can occur when there is velocity shear in a continuous fluid, or where there is a velocity difference across the interface between two fluids. An example is wind blowing over the water. other examples showing this instability are clouds,oceans,saturns bands.
2. Richtmeyer meshkow instability :
This instability occurs when a shock wave interacts with an interface separating two different fluids or in other words when two fluids of different densities are impulsively accelerated.The development of instability begins with small amplitude pertubations which initially grow linear with time.This instability can be considered the impulsive acceleration limit of the Rayleigh Taylor Instability.
3. Plateau Rayleigh instability :
This instability explains why and how a falling stream of fluid breaks up into smaller packets with the same volume but different or small surface area . It is often called as Rayleigh instability.The driving force of this instability is that the liquids by virtue of their surface tensions ,tends to minimize their surface area .
4.Rayleigh Taylor Instability :
The Rayleigh–Taylor instability is an instability of an interface between two fluids of different densities which occurs when the lighter fluid is pushing the heavier fluid.
Case 1) Rayleigh Taylor instability simulation for base mesh 0.5 mm :
Step 1) Geometry creation :
This is 2D simulation so we create the two square of size 20X20mm one is above the other and we give the name of top square is water and bottom square is air. and use share topology due to that the interface edge is shared .The created geometry is shown below:
Step 2) Mesh : Use mesh size 0.5 mm
The mesh is shown below :
Step 3) Setup and solution:
Viscous model: Laminar
Material : Selected Air and water
Phase selections :
Method of initialization: Standard
After initialization we required to patch the two phases of the fluid :
Create a contour :
By using contour we create the animation of every time step :
Time step size (sec)= 0.005
No of Time step : 1000
Result:
Residual plot:
Animation Link: Mesh size : 0.5mm
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_1BL_PrIlQLxNXl5uVlVoH1bNQevdvxM/view?usp=sharing
Case 2) Mesh size: 0.3 mm
Time step size (sec)= 0.005
No of Time steps : 800
Result:
Residual plot:
Animation Link: Mesh size : 0.3mm
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bA_wIRBqIrxDpWjPJneOVqB2FsS8st5a/view?usp=sharing
Case 3) Mesh size: 0.2 mm
Time step size (sec)= 0.005
No of Time steps : 800
Result:
Residual plot:
Animation Link: Mesh size : 0.2mm
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_BcHjdlMswpe2TJldzLfHpI8LoKZp3Jd/view?usp=sharing
Case 4) Run the simulation with water and user-defined material(density = 400 kg/m3, viscosity = 0.001 kg/m-s) for refined mesh. ie Mesh size =0.2mm
Time step size (sec)= 0.005
No of Time steps : 800
Result :
Residual plot:
Animation Link: Mesh size : 0.2mm (water-UD material)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u_t7yQlF1sCrOeukMC5CbvctWw2UnRNQ/view?usp=sharing
Observations :
Atwood Number:
It is a dimensionless number that is used to study hydrodynamic instabilities in density stratified flows.
It is denoted by letter A
A=ρ1−ρ2ρ1+ρ2�=�1-�2�1+�2 →1→1
where,
ρ1�1=Density of heavier fluid `
ρ2�2=Density of lighter fluid
Calculate the Atwood Number for Air-water RT instability
ρ1�1=998.2 kgm3���3 (water density)
ρ2�2=1.225 kgm3���3 (Air density)
put this value in equation 1 we get A=0.9975
Calculate the Atwood Number for Water-UD material RT instability
ρ1=�1=998.2 kgm3���3 (Water density)
ρ2�2=400 kgm3���3 (User defined material density)
put this value in equation 1 we get A=0.4278
The Atwood number close to 1 then the lighter fluid below the heavier fluid which forms a larger bubbles which is less symmetrical and also it occurs very rapidly.
The Atwood number close to 0 then the lighter fluid below the heavier fluid which forms a bubbles which is relatively symmetrical and the pertubations are linear for larger time.
Leave a comment
Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all the comments are moderated as per our comment policy, and your email will not be published for privacy reasons. Please leave a personal & meaningful conversation.
Other comments...
Week - 4 - 2D meshing for Plastic components
14 Feb 2024 04:24 PM IST
Week 3 - 2D meshing for Sheet metal
14 Feb 2024 04:10 PM IST
Project
AIM: To carry out a system-level simulation of an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV). OBJECTIVES : To carry out a Simulation of ATV. To prepare a technical report explaining the model properties & comments on the results. THEORY : All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) An All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility…
03 Jan 2024 10:45 AM IST
Project 1
Aim : Develop a double-acting actuator model using Simscape Multibody and Simscape components. Objective : The mechanical system of the cylinder needs to be built using Simscape Multibody library components/blocks, and the hydraulic system needs to be modeled using Simscape library physical components. Theory : The…
16 Oct 2023 03:59 PM IST
Related Courses
Skill-Lync offers industry relevant advanced engineering courses for engineering students by partnering with industry experts.
© 2025 Skill-Lync Inc. All Rights Reserved.