A return toward equilibrium in a 2D Rayleigh–Taylor instability for compressible fluids with a multidomain adaptive Chebyshev method

We numerically simulate a single-mode Rayleigh–Taylor instability between compressible miscible fluids with a highly accurate self-adaptive pseudospectral Chebyshev multidomain method in two two-dimensional boxes at small aspect ratios. The simulations are started from rest and pursued until the return toward mechanical equilibrium of the mixing. Four regimes—linear and weakly nonlinear, nonlinear steady bubble rise, return toward equilibrium, and finally a system of acoustic waves—can be identified. We show that this one-dimensional system of stationary acoustic waves is damped by the physical viscosity. This provides a reference solution.