P-2 Extreme Fluids Team at
Los Alamos National Laboratory
The Turbulent Mixing Tunnel (TMT) studies the mixing of two fluids in a subsonic environment in order to quantify how momentum and buoyancy forces enhance or suppress mixing at various times in the flow. This facility also measures turbulence quantities for the development of better models for variable-density mixing.
How well do current stellar hydro codes reproduce variable density mixing? Mixing of different species with different material properties happens throughout the universe from common terrestrial flow on Earth, to the spiral arms of Galaxies. The amount of mixing found within the cores of massive stars determines the way in which they die, and subsequently what elements they produce. The Turbulent Mixing Tunnel experiment is designed to test variable density mixing at a highAtwood number.By simulating the Turbulent Mixing Tunnel, the ability of these stellar hydro codes can be tested against experimental data, eventually leading to more advanced simulation capabilities and more accurate simulations of stellar evolution and supernova explosions.
 View from Above |