scholarly journals Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities with sheared magnetic fields in partially ionised plasmas

2017 ◽  
Vol 609 ◽  
pp. A23 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. Ruderman ◽  
I. Ballai ◽  
E. Khomenko ◽  
M. Collados

Aims. In the present study we investigate the nature of the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability appearing at a tangential discontinuity in a partially ionised plasma when the effect of magnetic shear is taken into account. Methods. The partially ionised character of the plasma is described by the ambipolar diffusion in the induction equation. The dynamics of the plasma is investigated in a single-fluid approximation. After matching the solutions on both sides of the interface we derive a dispersion equation and calculate the instability increment using analytical methods for particular cases of parameters, and numerical investigation for a wide range of parameters. Results. We calculated the dependence of the instability increment on the perturbation wavenumber. We also calculated the dependence of the maximum instability increment on the shear angle of the magnetic field for various values of the ionisation degree. Conclusions. Our results show that the Rayleigh-Taylor instability becomes sensitive to the degree of plasma ionisation only for plasmas with small values of plasma beta and in a very weakly ionised state. Perturbations are unstable only for those wavenumbers that are below a cut-off value.

2020 ◽  
Vol 634 ◽  
pp. A96
Author(s):  
E. Vickers ◽  
I. Ballai ◽  
R. Erdélyi

Aims. We investigate the nature of the magnetic Rayleigh–Taylor instability at a density interface that is permeated by an oblique homogeneous magnetic field in an incompressible limit. Methods. Using the system of linearised ideal incompressible magnetohydrodynamics equations, we derive the dispersion relation for perturbations of the contact discontinuity by imposing the necessary continuity conditions at the interface. The imaginary part of the frequency describes the growth rate of waves due to instability. The growth rate of waves is studied by numerically solving the dispersion relation. Results. The critical wavenumber at which waves become unstable, which is present for a parallel magnetic field, disappears because the magnetic field is inclined. Instead, waves are shown to be unstable for all wavenumbers. Theoretical results are applied to diagnose the structure of the magnetic field in prominence threads. When we apply our theoretical results to observed waves in prominence plumes, we obtain a wide range of field inclination angles, from 0.5° up to 30°. These results highlight the diagnostic possibilities that our study offers.


2001 ◽  
Vol 203 ◽  
pp. 267-269
Author(s):  
J. Dun ◽  
H. Zhang ◽  
B. Zhang ◽  
R. Li

Using a 1995-1998 data set of vector magnetograms, the magnetic field flux, shear angle of the transverse field and nonpotential energy of active regions were calculated. The evolution of these parameters were analyzed together with time series of the solar monthly sunspot relative number and area to study their relationships in the ascending phase of solar cycle 23. We find the magnetic flux and nonpotential energy have a good correlation with sunspot relative number and area. But the magnetic shear angle does not develop as above indices.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (04) ◽  
pp. 1350094 ◽  
Author(s):  
HUI TIAN ◽  
GUOJUN LI ◽  
XIONGWEN ZHANG

An improved particle correction procedure for particle level set method is proposed and applied to the simulation of Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) of the incompressible two-phase immiscible fluids. In the proposed method, an improved particle correction method is developed to deal with all the relative positions between escaped particles and cell corners, which can reduce the disturbance arising in the distance function correction process due to the non-normal direction movement of escaped particles. The improved method is validated through accurately capturing the moving interface of the Zalesak's disk. Furthermore, coupled with the projection method for solving the Navier–Stokes equations, the time-dependent evolution of the RTI interface over a wide range of Reynolds numbers, Atwood numbers and Weber numbers are numerically investigated. A good agreement between the present results and the existing analytical solutions is obtained and the accuracy of the proposed method is further verified. Moreover, the effects of control parameters including viscosity, density ratio, and surface tension coefficient on the evolution of RTI are analyzed in detail, and a critical Weber number for the development of RTI is found.


1974 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 518-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. M. Srivastava

We have investigated the effect of finite Larmor radius on the Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a semi-infinite, compressible, stratified and infinitely conducting plasma. The plasma is assumed to have a one dimensional density and magnetic field gradients. The eigenvalue problem has been solved under Boussinesq approximation for disturbances parallel to the magnetic field. It has been established that for perturbation parallel to the magnetic field, the system is stable for both stable and unstable stratification. For perturbation perpendicular to the magnetic field, the problem has been solved without Boussinesq approximation. The dispersion relation has been discussed in the two limiting cases, the short and long wave disturbances. It has been observed that the gyroviscosity has a destabilizing influence from k = 0 to k = 4.5 for ß* = 0.1 and for ß* = 0.1 up to k* = 2.85 and then onwards it acts as a stabilizing agent. It has a damping effect on the short wave disturbances. For some parameters, the largets imaginary part has been shown in Figs. 1 and 2


2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 022703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Zhang ◽  
Y. Y. Lau ◽  
I. M. Rittersdorf ◽  
M. R. Weis ◽  
R. M. Gilgenbach ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Samuel Langdon-Arms ◽  
Michael Gschwendtner ◽  
Martin Neumaier

In this study, an experimental apparatus is used to excite four U-tube-shaped liquid pistons connected in series, and to study their behaviour. Some of the gas spaces are heated to induce piston oscillations; in others, gas expansion is utilised to produce a refrigeration effect. It was discovered that the liquid piston surface would become unstable and turbulent at relatively low gas charge pressures (2 bar–3 bar). Cylindrical polyethylene floats were employed at each piston surface in order to reduce the area of the free surface of each piston and allow experiments to be conducted over a wide range of operating conditions. Experiments were carried out using gas charge pressures in the range of 1 bar–6 bar. The resulting liquid piston oscillations were measured and analysed to assess the impact of any developing piston instability. Evidence of a liquid piston acceleration limit, likely resulting from the Rayleigh-Taylor instability phenomenon, is consistently observed during the experiments. The use of submerged polyethylene piston floats is found to increase the surface stability and enable maximum accelerations of 25 ms−2 to 30 ms−2.


1984 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 939-944 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. K. Chhajlani ◽  
R. K. Sanghvi ◽  
P. Purohit

Abstract The hydromagnetric Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a composite medium has been studied in the presence of suspended particles for an exponentially varying density distribution. The prevalent horizontal magnetic field and viscosity of the medium are assumed to be variable. The dispersion relation is derived for such a medium. It is found that the stability criterion is independent of both viscosity and suspended particles. The system can be stabilized for an appropriate value of the magnetic field. It is found that the suspended particles can suppress as well as enhance the growth rate of the instability in certain regions. The growth rates are obtained for a viscid medium with the inclusion of suspended particles and without it. It has been shown analytically that the growth rate is modified by the inclusion of the relaxation frequency parameter of the suspended particles.


2013 ◽  
Vol 732 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Poehlmann ◽  
R. Richter ◽  
I. Rehberg

AbstractA recently proposed stabilization mechanism for the Rayleigh–Taylor instability, using magnetic fluids and azimuthally rotating magnetic fields, is experimentally investigated in a cylindrical geometry and compared with the theoretical model. This approach allows the imperfection of the experimental setup to be exploited for measuring the critical field strength of the instability without ever reaching the supercritical state. Furthermore, we use a fast increase in the magnetic field strength to prevent an already occurring instability and force the system back to its initial state. In this way we measure the growth dynamics repeatedly and acquire the characteristic time scale ${\tau }_{0} $ of the instability.


1969 ◽  
Vol 47 (22) ◽  
pp. 2435-2437 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. D. Ariel ◽  
P. K. Bhatia

The effects of a finite Larmor radius of the ions are investigated on the Rayleigh–Taylor instability of a plasma in which there is a density gradient in a direction perpendicular to that of the magnetic field. It is found that the unstable configuration is completely stabilized by the finite Larmor radius effect.


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