We explored how adding a reaction to a Rayleigh-Taylor unstable interface affects the way that two short wavelength modes couple to generate longer wavelength modes. Using simulations, we identified five distinct flame growth solution types. Depending on the greatest common divisor of the wavenumbers of the two modes, the flame may stall, develop coherent pulsations, or even become a metastable traveling wave. We also compared our results with two-mode coupling in ablative and classical Rayleigh-Taylor and showed that all three systems may follow the same mode coupling dynamics.

People

• Mingxuan Liu
• Elizabeth P. Hicks

Publication

• Mingxuan Liu and Elizabeth P. Hicks, Rayleigh-Taylor Unstable Flames: the Effect of Two-Mode Coupling, 2024, Physical Review Fluids, Volume 9, Issue 11, 113203, November 2024. [pdf] [link]

Code and Data Release

• Mingxuan Liu and Elizabeth P. Hicks, Rayleigh-Taylor Unstable Flames: the Effect of Two-Mode Coupling (Code and Data Release), Zenodo, September 16, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13750992