Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a viscous film overlying a passive fluid
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Authors
Canright, David
Morris, Stephen
Subjects
Rayleigh-Taylor instability mantle convection
Rayleigh-Taylor instability mantle convection
Rayleigh-Taylor instability mantle convection
Advisors
Date of Issue
1989-02
Date
1989-02
Publisher
Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
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)
Type
Technical Report
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
NPS-53-89-012
Sponsors
Naval Postgraduate School and
National Science Foundation,
Washington, D.C. 20550
Funding
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.