Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Onset of Rayleigh-Bénard convection at fuel-ablator interfaces in inertial confinement fusion simulations
Raymond Lau1, Seth Davidovits2
1Stanford University, Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics, 496 Lomita Mall, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
Abstract:
We demonstrate the onset of Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC) near the fuel-ablator interface of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosion simulations for the scenario in which Rayleigh-Taylor or Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities are suppressed. This convective heating within the cold fuel can degrade the adiabat and therefore performance of ICF implosions even without mixing of fuel and ablator. Our work suggests additional considerations to realize design adiabats in otherwise ideal ICF implosions: first, via control of the temperature differences between ablator and fuel and, second, control of the fuel acceleration which we show has a complex interplay with the RBC dynamics.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Steady, Laminar Flow Between Parallel Plates
Couette Flow
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer II
Laminar and Turbulent Flow
Steady, Laminar Flow in Circular Tubes
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer I

