Viscous Effects on the Rayleigh-Taylor Instability of Rapidly Expanding Spherical Material Interfaces

Author(s):  
Mina Mankbadi ◽  
Bala Balachandar
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 95-98
Author(s):  
F. E. M. Silveira

In this work, the Rayleigh-Taylor instability is addressed in a viscous-resistive current slab, by assuming a finite electron skin depth. The formulation is developed on the basis of an extended form of Ohm’s law, which includes a term proportional to the explicit time derivative of the current density. In the neighborhood of the rational surface, a viscous-resistive boundary-layer is defined in terms of a resistive and a viscous boundary layers. As expected, when viscous effects are negligible, it is shown that the viscous-resistive boundary-layer is given by the resistive boundary-layer. However, when viscous effects become important, it is found that the viscous-resistive boundary-layer is given by the geometric mean of the resistive and viscous boundary-layers. Scaling laws of the time growth rate of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability with the plasma resistivity, fluid viscosity, and electron number density are discussed.


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