Ablation into water: Fragmentation of metal via Richtmyer–Meshkov instability

Abstract

The consistent molecular dynamics and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of gold ablation into water are performed in a quasi two-dimensional setup. Both approaches demonstrate accretion of the nucleated gold to the gold–water interface, producing sound waves which propagate to the water. Jets growth provided by SPH simulation is similar to the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability development.