title: Rayleigh-Taylor Instability in Elastoplastic Solids: A Local Catastrophic Process.
abstract: We show that the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in elastoplastic solids takes the form of local perturbations penetrating the material independently of the interface size, in contrast with the theory for simple elastic materials. Then, even just beyond the stable domain, the instability abruptly develops as bursts rapidly moving through the other medium. We show that this is due to the resistance to penetration of a finger which is minimal for a specific finger size and drops to a much lower value beyond a small depth (a few millimeters).
authors.affiliation: Université Paris-Est, Laboratoire Navier (ENPC-IFSTTAR-CNRS), Champs sur Marne 77420, France.|Schlumberger Riboud Product Center, Clamart 92140, France.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maimouni
authors.affiliation: Université Paris-Est, Laboratoire Navier (ENPC-IFSTTAR-CNRS), Champs sur Marne 77420, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goyon
authors.affiliation: Schlumberger Riboud Product Center, Clamart 92140, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lac
authors.affiliation: Schlumberger Riboud Product Center, Clamart 92140, France.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pringuey
authors.affiliation: IFPEN, Rueil-Malmaison 92500, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boujlel
authors.affiliation: Université Paris-Est, Laboratoire Navier (ENPC-IFSTTAR-CNRS), Champs sur Marne 77420, France.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chateau
authors.affiliation: Université Paris-Est, Laboratoire Navier (ENPC-IFSTTAR-CNRS), Champs sur Marne 77420, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Coussot