Rayleigh–Taylor Instability

A dense fluid resting on a lighter one is driven by gravity to exchange places. Small perturbations grow exponentially at rate σ = √[Ag k tanh(kH)], where A = Atwood number, k = wavenumber, g = gravity. Fingers of heavy fluid fall while bubbles of light fluid rise.

t = 0 | Growth rate σ = — | Mixing width h(t) = —