Publications

Direct simulation monte carlo investigation of hydrodynamic instabilities in gases

Gallis, Michail A.; Koehler, Timothy P.; Torczynski, J.R.; Plimpton, Steven J.

The Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) is investigated using the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method of molecular gas dynamics. Here, two-dimensional and three-dimensional DSMC RTI simulations are performed to quantify the growth of flat and single-mode-perturbed interfaces between two atmospheric-pressure monatomic gases. The DSMC simulations reproduce all qualitative features of the RTI and are in reasonable quantitative agreement with existing theoretical and empirical models in the linear, nonlinear, and self-similar regimes. At late times, the instability is seen to exhibit a self-similar behavior, in agreement with experimental observations. For the conditions simulated diffusion can influence the initial instability growth significantly.