Compressible Rayleigh-Taylor Instability with Temperature Variations

Variable transport property effects associated with temperature differences can significantly affect the development of a Rayleigh-Taylor mixing layer. We consider the idealized configuration of a hotter, less dense fluid pushing against a colder, denser fluid. Towards obtaining fully resolved simulations of the compressible multi-mode RT instability, comprehensive exploration of 2D simulations at various Atwood numbers, temperature ratios and transport property configurations are performed. We examine the response of the flow to changes in the transport properties, as well as the long-time behavior and onset of self-similarity. The temperature differences can enhance profile asymmetries about the interface for flow and mixing statistics such as velocity fluctuation intensities and mass fraction PDFs. We also track the evolution of turbulent kinetic energy, mass flux and density-specific volume correlation, quantities important for turbulence modeling.