Determining the Self-Similar Stage of the Rayleigh-Taylor Instability via LLNL's NIF Discovery Science Experiments

2022/10/12 by Shimony, A., Huntington, C. M., Flippo, K. A. +4
#FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2210.06631

Abstract

We report a novel measurement of the late time self-similar growth constant α_B of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) from controlled initial perturbations. To this end, we have developed a laser-driven experiment, fielded on the National Ignition Facility (NIF), to explore deeply non-linear, multimode hydrodynamic growth of a planar interface. The measured value is α_B=0.038± 0.008, which is consistent with previously reported 2D simulations and closer to previously reported 3D simulations. This resolved the known discrepancy between experiments and simulations of RTI.

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