Time-dependent study of anisotropy in Rayleigh-Taylor instability induced turbulent flows with a variety of density ratios

This study focuses on understanding the time-dependent anisotropy, mixing, scaling of flows induced by Rayleigh-Taylor instability, and complementing the late-time snapshots reported by Cabot and Zhou [Statistical measurements of scaling and anisotropy of turbulent flows induced by Rayleigh-Taylor instability, Phys. Fluids 25, 015107 (2013)]. In particular, we utilize three large datasets with different Atwood numbers (density ratios) from well resolved direct numerical simulations at a moderate Reynolds number with the goal of determining the degree of departure of this inhomogeneous flow from that of homogeneous, isotropic turbulence. Three key time-dependent statistical measurements are considered in detail to delineate the role played by the acceleration. First, a number of directional length scales in this anisotropic turbulence are inspected. Second, the relationship among the outer-scale, the turbulence length, and the Taylor-microscale based Reynolds numbers is also clarified. Finally, the normalized dissipation rate is employed to inspect the distinctive features of the flow in the inhomogeneous direction parallel to gravity and in the homogeneous perpendicular directions. Published under license by AIP Publishing.