Study of the Reynolds Number Effect on the Process of Instability Transition Into the Turbulent Stage

Abstract

The results of the experimental study of the Reynolds number effect on the process of the Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) instability transition into the turbulent stage are presented. The experimental liquid layer was accelerated by compressed gas. Solid particles were scattered on the layer free surface to specify the initial perturbations in some experiments. The process was recorded with the use of a high-speed motion picture camera. The following results were obtained in experiments: (1) Long-wave perturbation is developed at the interface at the Reynolds numbers Re < 10 4 . If such perturbation growth is limited by a hard wall, the jet directed in gas is developed. If there is no such limitation, this perturbation is resolved into the short-wave ones with time, and their growth results in gasliquid mixing. (2) Short-wave perturbations specified at the interface significantly reduce the Reynolds number Re for instability to pass into the turbulent mixing stage.

Rayleigh-Taylor Instability: A Status Review of Experimental Designs and Measurement Diagnostics

“…Kucherenko and colleagues at VNIITF (Russian Federal Nuclear Center) [64,65] used a gas gun to accelerate a tank and achieved accelerations between 100-350 g, an aqueous solution of glycerin and benzene were used in those experiments to obtain A t numbers in the range 0.23-0.5. Similar techniques using a gas gun has also been used by Nevmerzhitskiy and colleagues at VNIIEF (Russian Scientific Research Institute for Experimental Physics) [66,67]. Andrews and Spalding [68] created an unstable stratification by quickly inverting a box of the stably stratified mixture.…”