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Experiments on the Richtmyer--Meshkov instability: Small-scale perturbations on a plane interface

Journal Article · · Physics of Fluids A; (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.858637· OSTI ID:6811749
;  [1]
  1. Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States)
This paper reports the results of measurements of the visual thickness,'' obtained from flow visualization experiments by the schlieren method, of initially plane interfaces between two gases under impulsive accelerations. It is found that when such interfaces are processed by just one incident shock wave of strength of order [ital M][sub [ital s]]=1.5, their thickness increases slowly and they require observation over extended times; their growth rates are found to slow down with time, in agreement with simple theoretical arguments. The observed growth rates of thin interfaces formed by plastic membranes have been found to be substantially smaller than that reported by previous investigators. Also, thick, diffusively smoothed interfaces initially grow much more slowly than the discontinuous ones do. In these experiments, it is found that wall vortices formed by shock wave/boundary-layer interaction at the interface grow much more rapidly than the shock-processed interfaces in the bulk of the fluid. These wall structures can reduce the apparent growth of interfaces by vorticity-induced strain and impair the observation of the relevant interface phenomena.
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
6811749
Journal Information:
Physics of Fluids A; (United States), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids A; (United States) Vol. 5:4; ISSN 0899-8213; ISSN PFADEB
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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