Direct numerical simulations of multi-layer Rayleigh-Taylor instability under asymmetric interfacial density stratification

Abstract

Direct numerical simulations of thermally stratified multi-layer Rayleigh-Taylor instability are performed to investigate the influence of interfacial Atwood number (At) on instability growth, interfacial coupling, turbulent mixing, and spectral characteristics. A fully compressible, three-dimensional, high-fidelity Navier-Stokes solver has been used to simulate ten cases spanning a broad range of interfacial $At$ to examine the evolution of coupled instability dynamics. The configuration consists of three superposed fluid layers with unstable density stratification across two interfaces generated through temperature variations. The temporal evolution of the flow is characterized using the maximum vorticity, mixing-layer growth, density fluctuations, turbulent kinetic energy, and energy partitioning between gravitational potential energy, TKE, and dissipation. The instability evolution is shown to proceed through distinct onset, quasi-exponential growth, and nonlinear saturation stages for all configurations. Increasing interfacial At leads to earlier instability onset, enhanced vorticity amplification, and accelerated development of turbulent mixing layers. The weakly stratified configurations exhibit dynamics resembling effectively single-interface RTI, whereas the strongly stratified cases develop two simultaneously active mixing layers that subsequently interact and merge into a coupled turbulent region. The wall-normal distributions of density fluctuations and TKE demonstrate progressive broadening of the mixing region and increasing redistribution of turbulent activity with increasing stratification strength. The late-stage spectra exhibit an approximate -11/5 scaling over an intermediate range of wavenumbers, consistent with buoyancy-dominated turbulent transport.