Shock-interface interaction: Current research on the Richtmyer- Meshkov problem

Conference · Wed Jul 17 04:00:00 EDT 1991

OSTI ID:6031780

Rupert, V

The basis for the study of the evolution of a shocked interface stems from the question of the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability (Taylor 1950). Starting in the late 18th century, the stability of an interface submitted to gravitational forces was investigated for the case in which the density of one of the materials across the interface was negligible compared to the other. Taylor analyzed the case in which the Atwood number (ratio of the difference of the densities to their sum) is less than 1, and the acceleration of the system is constant. He determined that the interface was unstable to small perturbations only if the direction of the acceleration normal to the interface coincides with that of the density gradient. Richtmyer (1960) extended Taylor's analysis to the case of an implusive acceleration. His results implied that the interface would be unstable irrespective of the relative orientation of the velocity impulse and the density gradient. His predictions were verified experimentally by Meshkov (1969), and the Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability became a subject of research in its own right. Experimental, numerical, and theoretical works address this problem. The RM problem has been studied with both the shock-tube and laser experiments. In this paper, only shock-tube work is considered. 48 refs., 6 figs.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6031780
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC-108002; CONF-9107138--4; ON: DE92002194
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

665000* -- Physics of Condensed Matter-- (1992-)
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
DISTURBANCES
INSTABILITY
INTERFACES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY
REFRACTION
SHOCK WAVES
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
WAVELENGTHS