The late-time development of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability
- Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States)
Measurements have been made of the growth by the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of nominally single-scale perturbations on an air/sulfur hexafluoride (SF{sub 6}) interface in a large shock tube. An approximately sinusoidal shape is given to the interface by a wire mesh which supports a polymeric membrane separating the air from the SF{sub 6}. A single shock wave incident on the interface induces motion by the baroclinic mechanism of vorticity generation. The visual thickness {delta} of the interface is measured from schlieren photographs obtained singly in each run and in high-speed motion pictures. Data are presented for {delta} at times considerably larger than previously reported, and they are tested for self-similarity including independence of initial conditions. Four different initial amplitude/wavelength combinations at one incident shock strength are used to determine the scaling of the data. It is found that the growth rate decreases rapidly with time, d{delta}/dt{proportional_to}t{sup -p} (i.e., {delta}{proportional_to}t{sup 1-p}), where 0.67(less-or-similar sign)p(less-or-similar sign)0.74 and that a small dependence on the initial wavelength {lambda}{sub 0} persists to large time. The larger value of the power law exponent agrees with the result of the late-time-decay similarity law of Huang and Leonard [Phys. Fluids 6, 3765-3775 (1994)]. The influence of the wire mesh and membrane on the mixing process is assessed. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics.
- OSTI ID:
- 20217071
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Fluids (1994), Vol. 12, Issue 8; Other Information: PBD: Aug 2000; ISSN 1070-6631
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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