Atwood number
The Atwood number is a dimensionless number in fluid dynamics used in the study of hydrodynamic instabilities in density stratified flows.
It is a dimensionless density ratio defined as
- Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable;
please see math/README to configure.): A = \frac{\rho_1 - \rho_2} {\rho_1 + \rho_2}
where
- Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable;
please see math/README to configure.): \rho_1
= density of heavier fluid
- Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable;
please see math/README to configure.): \rho_2
= density of lighter fluid
[edit] Field of application
Atwood number is an important parameter in the study of Rayleigh-Taylor instability and Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. In Rayleigh-Taylor instability,
the penetration distance of heavy fluid bubbles into the light fluid is a function of acceleration time scale, Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable;
please see math/README to configure.): A g t^2
[1] where g is the gravitational acceleration and t is the time.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Glimm, J., Grove, J. W., Li, X.-L., Oh, W., and Sharp, D. H., A critical analysis of
Rayleigh-Taylor growth rates, J. Comput. Phys., 169, 652-677 (2001).
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