Experimental study of initial condition dependence on mixing in Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities

Conference · Thu Nov 18 04:00:00 EST 2010

OSTI ID:1040840

Balasubramanian, Sridhar ^[1]; Prestridge, Katherine P ^[1]; Orlicz, Gregory C ^[1]; Balasubramaniam, Balakumar J ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory

Recent work has shown that buoyancy-driven turbulence can be affected at late time by initial conditions, thus presenting an opportunity to predict and design late-time turbulent mixing, with transformative impact on our understanding and prediction of Inertial Confinement Fusion and general fluid mixing processes. In this communication, we report results on the initial condition parameters, amplitude ({delta}) and wavelength ({lambda}) of perturbation, that impact the material mixing and transition to turbulence in shock-driven Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. Experiments were conducted using a stable, membrane-free, heavy gas varicose curtain (air-SF{sub 6}-air) at shock Mach number, Ma = 1.2. The velocity and density field of our initial conditions was quantified using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Planar-Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) respectively. Quantitative measurements on the temporal and spatial evolution of developing structures after first shock and subsequent re-shock at different times obtained using PLlF aid us in understating the importance of the initial conditions on transition to turbulence and mixing.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1040840
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-10-07761; LA-UR-10-7761
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
AMPLITUDES
DESIGN
FLUORESCENCE
FORECASTING
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
INSTABILITY
MACH NUMBER
PHYSICS
TURBULENCE
VELOCITY
WAVELENGTHS