Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: We develop a general transfer-matrix formalism for determining the growth rate of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in a fluid system with spatially varying density and viscosity. We use this formalism to analytically and numerically treat the case of a stratified heterogeneous fluid. We introduce the inviscid-flow approximation in our transfer-matrix formalism to find analytic solutions in the limit of uniform kinematic viscosity for a stratified heterogeneous fluid. We discuss the applicability of these results and a related approximation that also yields analytical solutions in the large-viscosity limit.
Source: Physical review. E
Author: Prashant Sharma
Institution: Boston University
Language: English
Subfield: Computational Mechanics
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4404941665