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Simple Model For Linear And Nonlinear Mixing At Unstable Fluid Interfaces In Spherical Geometry, John D. Ramshaw

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

A simple model was recently described for predicting linear and nonlinear mixing at an unstable planar fluid interface subjected to an arbitrary time-dependent variable acceleration history [J. D. Ramshaw, Phys. Rev. E 58, 5834 (1998)]. Here we present an analogous model for describing the mixing of two adjacent spherical fluid shells of different density resulting from an arbitrary time-dependent mean interface radius R(t). As in the planar case, the model is based on a heuristic expression for the kinetic energy of the system. This expression is based on that for the kinetic energy of a linearly perturbed interface, but with …