Atwood number
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
The Atwood number (A) 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
where
- = density of heavier fluid
- = density of lighter fluid
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, [1] where g is the gravitational acceleration and t is the time.
References
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