Simulations of two-dimensional single-mode Rayleigh-Taylor Instability using front-tracking/ghost-fluid method: comparison to experiments and theory

Two-dimensional single-mode Rayleigh-Taylor Instability (RTI) is simulated using an accurate and robust front-tracking/ghost-fluid method (FT/GFM) with high-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme. We compare our numerical results with the single-mode RTI experiments of Renoult, Rosenblatt and Carles (2015). The time evolution of the interface between two immiscible fluids and the effects of surface tension on the growth of the amplitude and asymmetry of the perturbed interface are examined for the initial wavelength 1 cm and the Atwood number A=0.29. The important features of RTI flows such as interface profiles, bubble/spike penetration and velocities show good agreement between experiments and simulations of immiscible fluids with surface tension. The velocity vector fields for the bubble and spike in the linear and nonlinear regimes are consistent with the theory for the single wavelength perturbation.