Rayleigh–Taylor instability under multi-mode perturbation: Discrete Boltzmann modeling with tracers

Abstract

Abstract The two-dimensional Rayleigh–Taylor Instability (RTI) under multi-mode perturbation in compressible flow is probed via the Discrete Boltzmann Modeling (DBM) with tracers. The distribution of tracers provides clear boundaries between light and heavy fluids in the position space. Besides, the position-velocity phase space offers a new perspective for understanding the flow behavior of RTI with intuitive geometrical correspondence. The effects of viscosity, acceleration, compressibility, and Atwood number on the mixing of material and momentum and the mean non-equilibrium strength at the interfaces are investigated separately based on both the mixedness defined by the tracers and the non-equilibrium strength defined by the DBM. The mixedness increases with viscosity during early stage but decreases with viscosity at the later stage. Acceleration, compressibility, and Atwood number show enhancement effects on mixing based on different mechanisms. After the system relaxes from the initial state, the mean non-equilibrium strength at the interfaces presents an initially increasing and then declining trend, which is jointly determined by the interface length and the macroscopic physical quantity gradient. We conclude that the four factors investigated all significantly affect early evolution behavior of an RTI system, such as the competition between interface length and macroscopic physical quantity gradient. The results contribute to the understanding of the multi-mode RTI evolutionary mechanism and the accompanied kinetic effects.