Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman-Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Aerospace Engineering Engineering Mechanics Mechanical Engineering |
| Special Topic(s): | |
| Learning Resource Type: |
Reference - Visuals |
| Media Type: |
Video |
| Author(s): |
David Richards Frederick Streitz James Glosli Kyle Caspersen Liam Krauss Paul Miller Robert Rudd William Cabot |
| Description: | These images show results of a computer simulation of two fluid layers flowing across each other in opposite directions. The swirling waves and vortices form due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, which is named after two of the scientists that first studied them nearly 150 years ago. These images are details from a 9 billon atom molecular dynamics simulation of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in molten aluminum (blue) and copper (red). The height of the instabilities is about 0.5 microns. Our simulation tracks the individual motions of over 9 billion atoms of liquid copper (red) and aluminum (purple). The copper layer flows to the left and aluminum to the right. The resulting wave-like structures are beautifully intricate, decorated with secondary instabilities and complex mixing phenomena. You may have seen similar waves in cloud formations or in giant storms in the atmospheres of Jupiter or Saturn. These waves in this simulation however are extremely small---less than 1 micron tall or about 1/100th of the thickness of a human hair. Computing the motions of 9 billion atoms requires a large amount of computer time. In this case, about a week on a supercomputer with over 200,000 CPUs. The same calculation on a single desktop PC would take thousands of years to complete if it would fit in memory. |
| Rating: |
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| Related Resources | |
| Keywords: | Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability |
| Is Component of: |
Image Gallery of Fluid Dynamics at APS 2008 |
| Usage Tip | |
| Use of Resource: |
"The Division of Fluid Dynamics exists for the advancement and diffusion of knowledge of the physics of fluids with special emphasis on the dynamical theories of the liquid, plastic and gaseous states of matter under all conditions of temperature and pressure. Every year, the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics hosts a physical Gallery of Fluid Motion at its annual meeting -- a room where stunning graphics and videos from computational or experimental studies showing flow phenomena are displayed. The most outstanding entries are selected by a panel of referees for artistic content and honored for their originality and ability to convey information. Past winners are published in the journal Physics of Fluids. This year, in conjunction with the 61st APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Annual Meeting, held from November 23-25, 2008 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, a subset of these images and videos are available on this page for viewing prior to the judging process. |
| Difficulty: |
Medium |
| Interactivity Level: |
Very low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | November 2008 |
| Platform/Format: |
WWW |
| Cost: |
Free |
| Download URL: | http://www.aps.org/units/dfd/pressroom/gallery/richards.cfm |
| Metadata: |
IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
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