Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Oct 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003aps..dppgm1002d&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, 45th Annual Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics, October 27-31, 2003, Albuquerque, New Mexico,
Physics
Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
FLASH is a multi-physics, block-structured adaptive mesh refinement code for studying compressible, reactive flows in various astrophysical environments. We compare the results of two- and three-dimensional FLASH simulations to experimental data obtained at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The LANL experiment (Tomkins et al. 2003, PhFl, 15, 896) involves the lateral interaction between a planar Ma=1.2 shock wave with one or two cylinders of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) gas. The development of primary and secondary flow instabilities after the passage of the shock, as observed in the experiments and numerical simulations, are reviewed and compared. We investigate the deposition of vorticity due to the impact of the shock wave on the cylinder, and the transition from laminar to turbulent flow. The interaction of shock waves with high-density clouds is a common phenomenon in astrophysics. Shock-cloud interactions are seen in the interstellar medium and within supernova remnants and wind-driven nebulae. On large scales, refraction of galactic radio jets flowing past density gradients provides conditions suitable for strong vorticity generation, jet bending, and eventual jet disruption. On smaller scales, interactions between shocks and clouds have been proposed as a means to trigger the collapse of giant molecular clouds, leading to the onset of star formation. By carefully comparing our numerical simulations with experimental data we will validate FLASH for shock-cloud interactions, albeit in the restricted regime of low-Mach number adiabatic planar shocks and for low density contrasts. Following similarity arguments, such comparisons build confidence that the numerical simulations adequately describe the hydrodynamical evolution of shock-cloud interactions on timescales inaccessible to direct observations.
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