2014/11/03 by Olindo Zanotti, Michael Dumbser, Zanotti, Olindo +1
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Fluid Dynamics and Turbulent Flows #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1411.0389
openalex publication_date 2014/11/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We study the Richtmyer--Meshkov (RM) instability of a relativistic perfect\nfluid by means of high order numerical simulations with adaptive mesh\nrefinement (AMR). The numerical scheme adopts a finite volume Weighted\nEssentially Non-Oscillatory (WENO) reconstruction to increase accuracy in\nspace, a local space-time discontinuous Galerkin predictor method to obtain\nhigh order of accuracy in time and a high order one-step time update scheme\ntogether with a "cell-by-cell" space-time AMR strategy with time-accurate local\ntime stepping. In this way, third order accurate (both in space and in time)\nnumerical simulations of the RM instability are performed, spanning a wide\nparameter space. We present results both for the case in which a light fluid\npenetrates into a higher density one (Atwood number A>0), and for the case in\nwhich a heavy fluid penetrates into a lower density one (Atwood number A<0).\nWe find that, for large Lorentz factors \γs of the incident shock wave,\nthe relativistic RM instability is substantially weakened and ultimately\nsuppressed. More specifically, the growth rate of the RM instability in the\nlinear phase has a local maximum which occurs at a critical value of \γs ~\n[1.2,2]. Moreover, we have also revealed a genuine relativistic effect, absent\nin Newtonian hydrodynamics, which arises in three dimensional configurations\nwith a non-zero velocity component tangent to the incident shock front. In this\ncase, the RM instability is strongly affected, typically resulting in less\nefficient mixing of the fluid.\n