The self-similar nonlinear evolution of the multimode ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability (ARTI) is studied numerically in both two and three dimensions. It is shown that the nonlinear multimode bubble-front penetration follows the ${\alpha }_b{A}_T({\int \sqrt{g}dt)}^2$ scaling law with ${\alpha }_b$ dependent on the initial conditions and ablation velocity. The value of ${\alpha }_b$ is determined by the bubble competition theory, indicating that mass ablation reduces ${\alpha }_b$ with respect to the classical value for the same initial perturbation amplitude. It is also shown that ablation-driven vorticity accelerates the bubble velocity and prevents the transition from the bubble competition to the bubble merger regime at large initial amplitudes leading to higher ${\alpha }_b$ than in the classical case. Because of the dependence of ${\alpha }_b$ on initial perturbation and vorticity generation, ablative stabilization of the nonlinear ARTI is not as effective as previously anticipated for large initial perturbations.

• Received 19 April 2018
• Revised 31 July 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.185002