Search

Experiments conducted on the SOM facility at the Russian Federal Nuclear Center–VNIITF, concerning the turbulent mixing induced by the Rayleigh–Taylor instability in a three-layer system of immiscible liquids are described. The fluids are contained in a small tank 6.4 cm × 5.4 cm × 12 cm, which is accelerated vertically downward by a gas gun. The mixing layer evolution was imaged by seeding one of the fluids with particles and using a bidirectional light sheet method (refractive index matching was used to minimize measurement errors). Experiments were performed for two different accelerations (g = 350 g0 and g = 100 g0, where g0 = 980 cm/s2, and the acceleration decreases with distance traveled), and with aqueous solutions of glycerin and benzene (with density ratio 1.6). The lower, middle, and upper layers were a sodium hyposulfite–glycerin solution, a water–glycerin solution, and benzene, respectively. The glycerin solution was seeded with particles. The principal objective of the experiments was to obtain the distribution of fluid particle sizes arising from the mixing of the immiscible fluids.

At the installation SOM, the experimental study of the impulse acceleration influence on the behavior of the turbulized layer obtained as a result of Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) action on the system of two different density liquids with the density ratio n = 3, has been performed. After application of impulse acceleration the systems were moving according to inertia, and by using the light method the coordinates of penetration of the heavier liquid into the lighter one and vice versa were determined. The liquids studied were placed inside the ampoule that had internal working sizes (54 × 64 × 120) mm3. There were initial accidental perturbations like a rough solid surface at the interface and the width of the initial perturbation zone was L0 = 2.3 mm. The moving ampoule blow against metal plates created the impulse acceleration. The relative impulse acceleration was δg/g11 = 22.2–66.6 where g11 is the ampoule acceleration before the impact, the impulse duration was varied from 0.27 ms to 0.096 ms. The results concerned with the turbulized layer extension after the impulse acceleration action were obtained.

Behavior of the turbulized mixtures at the stage of their inertial motion (with removed acceleration) has been studied. Turbulized mixtures were obtained at the contact boundary of two different density fluids as a result of the Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) development. At some instant of time t*, the acceleration sign was changed and conditions for the mixture separation were created. Then at the instant of time t**, the acceleration was removed and the turbulized mixture continued to move under force of inertia. Experiments have been performed at the installations EKAP and SOM. At the stage of inertial motion, the average density distribution of substance in the mixture region and the width of the turbulized mixture region have been obtained. The data on the mixture region expansion at the stage of inertial motion have been obtained as well.