Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a viscous film overlying a pasive fluid
By: David Canright, Stephen Morris
Contributors: Morris, Stephen; Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Dept. of Mathematics
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1989
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 33
Subjects: VISCOUS FLOW; BOUNDARY LAYER FLOW; EARTH MODELS
Other titles: NPS-53-89-012.
Description: To help understand the stability of cold, viscous boundary layers in geophysical contexts      such as lava lakes and mantle convection, the following model problem is analyzed: Beneath      a shear-free horizontal boundary, a thin layer of very viscous fluid overlies a deep layer of      less viscous, less dense fluid. The initial unstable equilibrium is perturbed, and the growth of      the disturbance is followed, including the nonlinear effects of large amplitude, by a      long-wave analysis. The result shows that, in the final catastrophic growth, the peak      thickness of the upper layer approaches infinity inversely proportional to the remaining time.      (This conclusion also applies to fluids with power-law rheology.) Thus nonlinear effects      greatly enhance growth. Keywords: Earth models. (EDC)
Notes: Cover title.

"NPS-53-89-012"

"February 1989."

AD-A205 578.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 33).

aq/aq cc:9116 04/14/97.