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Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities occur when a light fluid lies beneath a heavier one, with an interface separating them. Under the influence of gravity, the two fluid layers attempt to exchange positions, and as a result, the interface between them is unstable, forming fingers and plumes. Here, an analogous problem is considered, but in cylindrical geometry. Two line sources are present within an inner region of lighter fluid, and each of them has an inwardly directed gravity field. The surrounding fluid is heavier and is pushed outward by the light inner fluid ejected from the two sources. Nonlinear inviscid solutions are calculated and compared with the results of a linearized inviscid theory. In addition, the problem is formulated as a weakly compressible viscous outflow and modeled with Boussinesq theory. It is found that vorticity is generated in the viscous interfacial zone but that overturning plumes do not develop. However, the solution growth is highly sensitive to initial conditions.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	binary sources, curvature singularity, Rayleigh-Taylor flow, Boussinesq approximation, vorticity
Research Division:	Mathematical Sciences
Research Group:	Applied mathematics
Research Field:	Theoretical and applied mechanics
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in the mathematical sciences
UTAS Author:	Forbes, LK (Professor Larry Forbes)
ID Code:	97608
Year Published:	2014
Funding Support:	Australian Research Council (DP140100094)
Web of Science® Times Cited:	2
Deposited By:	Mathematics and Physics
Deposited On:	2015-01-02
Last Modified:	2017-11-01
Downloads:	65 View Download Statistics