3D Simulations of Rayleigh–Taylor Instability Using “VULCAN/3D”

The growth rate of the turbulent mixing zone, which develops from random perturbations under Rayleigh–Taylor instability, has been studied using the 3D version of the hydrodynamical code VULCAN. Previous studies show large differences between the α parameter of different codes. In its Eulerian mode VULCAN/3D employs Van–Leer scheme for the advection of all variables, and can also use interface tracking for multi-phase flows. Simulations using parallel version of VULCAN/3D give α of about 0.06, a value which agrees very well with experiments and some other simulations.