Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability Research Articles

Instability evolution of a shock-accelerated thin heavy fluid layer in cylindrical geometry

Instability evolutions of shock-accelerated thin cylindrical SF $_6$ layers surrounded by air with initial perturbations imposed only at the outer interface (i.e. the ‘Outer’ case) or at the inner interface (i.e. the ‘Inner’ case) are numerically and theoretically investigated. It is found that the instability evolution of a thin cylindrical heavy fluid layer not only involves the effects of Richtmyer–Meshkov instability, Rayleigh–Taylor stability/instability and compressibility coupled with the Bell–Plesset effect, which determine the instability evolution of the single cylindrical interface, but also strongly depends on the waves reverberated inside the layer, thin-shell correction and interface coupling effect. Specifically, the rarefaction wave inside the thin fluid layer accelerates the outer interface inward and induces the decompression effect for both the Outer and Inner cases, and the compression wave inside the fluid layer accelerates the inner interface inward and causes the decompression effect for the Outer case and compression effect for the Inner case. It is noted that the compressible Bell model excluding the compression/decompression effect of waves, thin-shell correction and interface coupling effect deviates significantly from the perturbation growth. To this end, an improved compressible Bell model is proposed, including three new terms to quantify the compression/decompression effect of waves, thin-shell correction and interface coupling effect, respectively. This improved model is verified by numerical results and successfully characterizes various effects that contribute to the perturbation growth of a shock-accelerated thin heavy fluid layer.

Richtmyer–Meshkov instability with a rippled reshock

The reshocked Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (RMI) is examined in three different configurations via shock-tube experiments: RMI at a single-mode interface with a planar reshock (configuration I); RMI at a flat interface with a sinusoidal reshock (configuration II); RMI at a single-mode interface with a sinusoidal reshock (configuration III). The sinusoidal reshock is created by an incident shock reflecting off a sine-shaped wall surface. For all three configurations, the initial conditions of the experiment are specially set such that the interface evolution is at the linear stage when the reshock arrives. It is found that the amplitude of the reshocked interface increases linearly with time for all three configurations. For configuration I, the post-reshock perturbation growth depends heavily on the pre-reshock amplitude and growth rate, which can be predicted by a modified Mikaelian model (Phys. Rev. A, vol. 31, 1985, pp. 410–419). For configuration II, velocity perturbation associated with the non-uniform rippled reshock plays an important role in the instability growth. For configuration III, the post-reshock instability growth is much quicker (lower) than in configuration I when the sinusoidal reshock is in phase (out of phase) with the interface. A major reason is that for the in-phase (anti-phase) case, the velocity perturbation gives rise to an instability growth with an identical (opposite) direction to the pressure perturbation. A linear theory is developed that takes velocity perturbation, pressure perturbation and pre-reshock growth rate into account, which gives a reasonable prediction of the growth of the reshocked RMI in configurations II and III.

Linear shaped-charge jet optimization using machine learning methods

Linear shaped charges are used to focus energy into rapidly creating a deep linear incision. The general design of a shaped charge involves detonating a confined mass of high explosive (HE) with a metal-lined concave cavity on one side to produce a high velocity jet for the purpose of striking and penetrating a given material target. This jetting effect occurs due to the interaction of the detonation wave with the cavity geometry, which produces an unstable fluid phenomenon known as the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability and results in the rapid growth of a long narrow jet. We apply machine learning and optimization methods to hydrodynamics simulations of linear shaped charges to improve the simulated jet characteristics. The designs that we propose and investigate in this work generally involve modifying the behavior of the detonation waves prior to interaction with the liner material. These designs include the placement of multiple detonators and the use of metal inclusions within the HE. We are able to produce a linear shaped-charge design with a higher penetration depth than the baseline case that we consider and accomplish this using the same amount of or less HE.

Evolution of turbulent mixing driven by implosion in spherical geometry

The interface instability and turbulent mixing of perturbed multi-modes Air/SF6 interface driven by implosion in spherical geometry are numerically investigated. The results show the complex evolving laws and physical mechanisms of turbulent mixing. After the incident imploding shock, the transmitted shock wave moves towards the centre and bounces off outward to produce the second impact, which is a combination of reshock and Taylor wave rather than a single one like in planar case, and forms the loading/unloading effects. The following rebound impacts repeat this assembled loading/unloading process. In the whole process, the turbulent mixing zone (TMZ) growth is closely related to the multiple loading/unloading features. The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI), Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI), Rayleigh-Taylor stabilization (RTS) and Bell-Plesset (BP) effects coexist, and the competition mechanism results in the TMZ width growing in an oscillatory way. The statistics properties of TMZ are highly related to the multiple shocks process. The fluids mixing across TMZ is asymmetrical but behaves in a self-similar way. The evolution of TMZ has a high degree anisotropy, especially around the two edges of TMZ, the turbulent flow is also highly intermittent. When the turbulent mixing develops fully the energy spectra approach k -1 scaling law at the inertial subrange.

Numerical investigation of shock Mach number effects on Richtmyer–Meshkov instability in a heavy square bubble

This study conducts a two-dimensional numerical investigation of incident shock Mach number effects on the Richtmyer–Meshkov (RM) instability after a shock wave impulsively drives a heavy square bubble. The square bubble is composed of SF6 gas, which is surrounded by nitrogen gas. Five different shock Mach numbers are considered: Ms=1.12, 1.22, 1.4, 1.7, and 2.1. Two-dimensional compressible Euler equations for two-component gas flows are simulated with a high-order modal discontinuous Galerkin solver. For validation, the numerical results are compared with the existing experimental results and are found to be in good agreement. The present results reveal that the incident shock Mach number is critical in the growth of RM instability in a heavy square bubble. The shock Mach number affects flow morphology significantly, resulting in complicated wave patterns, shock focusing, jet creation, bubble deformation, and vorticity generation. The convergent shape of the bubble causes shock focusing, which creates a local high-pressure zone and, as a result, an outward jet generation. It is found that the bubble deforms differently with increasing shock Mach number, and the different shock Mach numbers alter the distance between the shock focusing position and the downstream bubble interface. The effects of shock Mach numbers are investigated in depth through physical phenomena such as vorticity production, kinetic energy, and enstrophy. Finally, the shock Mach number impacts on the time-variations of the shock trajectories and interface structure are thoroughly investigated.

Numerical investigation of the interaction between a converging shock wave and an offset cylindrical bubble containing different gases

A numerical study investigating the interaction process between a converging shock wave and a gas bubble placed at an offset location is presented. As a first step, for proofing the reliability of the used numerical scheme, a simulation of relevant available experimental findings of Hosseini and Takayama [“Richtmyer–Meshkov instability induced by cylindrical shock wave loading of cylindrical gaseous inhomogeneities,” AIAA Paper No. 2000-2464, 2000] and Hosseini and Takayama [“Study of a converging shock wave interaction with a gaseous interfaces in an eccentric arrangement,” in Japanese Symposium on Shock Waves, 2000] is conducted; the tested gases were helium (He) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). The converging shock wave had a Mach number of 1.18 prior to its impact on the 50 mm diameter gas bubble. Achieving good agreement with the experimental findings ensures the reliability of the applied numerical scheme. After the converging shock wave impacted the gas bubble, different shock waves are created. These shock waves propagate differently than those observed in the case of planar shock wave impacting a cylindrical gas bubble or that of a converging shock wave where the gas bubble is located at the center. Furthermore, once the converging shock wave converged, a diverging shock wave expands and again impacts the remaining gas bubble, thus creating more complex shock wave patterns. The gas contained inside the bubble has an effect on the location of the converging shock wave focus point. In the case of the heavy gas SF6, the focus point is near the center of the converging shock wave, but in the case of light gas He, it is offset from the converging shock wave focus point and outside of the initial location of the He bubble. The new results from the current numerical simulation include more detailed results for both bubbles, which were not reported in Hosseini and Takayama [“Richtmyer–Meshkov instability induced by cylindrical shock wave loading of cylindrical gaseous inhomogeneities,” AIAA Paper No. 2000-2464, 2000] and Hosseini and Takayama [“Study of a converging shock wave interaction with a gaseous interfaces in an eccentric arrangement,” in Japanese Symposium on Shock Waves, 2000]. In addition, a shock wave focusing of the transmitted shock wave inside the SF6 bubble is observed. This later creates a secondary diverging shock wave. Higher pressure is achieved in the SF6 case.

The dynamics, mixing, and thermonuclear burn of compressed foams with varied gas fills

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions involve highly coupled physics and complex hydrodynamics that are challenging to model computationally. Due to the sensitivity of such implosions to small features, detailed simulations require accurate accounting of the geometry and dimensionality of the initial conditions, including capsule defects and engineering features such as fill tubes used to insert gas into the capsule, yet this is computationally prohibitive. It is therefore difficult to evaluate whether discrepancies between the simulation and experiment arise from inadequate fidelity to the capsule geometry and drive conditions, uncertainties in physical data used by simulations, or inadequate physics. We present results from detailed high-resolution three-dimensional simulations of ICF implosions performed as part of the MARBLE campaign on the National Ignition Facility [Albright et al., Phys. Plasmas 29, 022702 (2022)]. These experiments are foam-filled separated-reactant experiments, where deuterons reside in the foam and tritons reside in the capsule gas fill and deuterium–tritium (DT) fusion reactions only occur in the presence of mixing between these materials. Material mixing in these experiments is primarily seeded by shock interaction with the complex geometry of the foam and gas fill, which induces the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability. We compare results for experiments with two different gas fills (ArT and HT), which lead to significant differences in the hydrodynamic and thermodynamic developments of the materials in the implosion. Our simulation results show generally good agreement with experiments and demonstrate a substantial impact of hydrodynamic flows on measured ion temperatures. The results suggest that viscosity, which was not included in our simulations, is the most important unmodeled physics and qualitatively explains the few discrepancies between the simulation and experiment. The results also suggest that the hydrodynamic treatment of shocks is inadequate to predict the heating and yield produced during shock flash, when the shock converges at the center of the implosion. Alternatively, underestimation of the level of radiative preheat from the shock front could explain many of the differences between the experiment and simulation. Nevertheless, simulations are able to reproduce many experimental observables within the level of experimental reproducibility, including most yields, time-resolved X-ray self-emission images, and an increase in burn-weighted ion temperature and neutron down-scattered ratio in the line of sight that includes a jet seeded by the glue spot that joins capsule hemispheres.

Energy transformations accompanying a shock wave distortion and disappearance during the interaction with thermally stratified plasma

The results of experiments and numerical simulations of the interaction of a plane shock wave with an area of ionization strata formed by a glow gas discharge are presented. For the experimentally obtained phenomena transformations of kinetic and internal energy have been studied numerically using Euler and Navier-Stokes approaches under the assumption that ionization unstable plasma has stratified gas temperature. Energy transfer between a region of layered energy deposition and heated gas zone behind the shock wave was considered. It has been established that a layered energy deposition can provide the distortion and destruction of a shock wave front and in addition, to create a lot of zones with higher internal and kinetic energy beyond it. These phenomena were shown to be connected with generation in many points of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability resulting from the interaction of thermal strata with a front of the shock wave.

Convergent Richtmyer–Meshkov instability on two-dimensional dual-mode interfaces

We report the first shock-tube experiments on two-dimensional dual-mode air–SF $_6$ interfaces with different initial spectra subjected to a convergent shock wave. The convergent shock tube is specially designed with a tail opening to highlight the Bell–Plesset (BP) and mode-coupling effects on amplitude development of fundamental mode (FM). The results show that the BP effect promotes the occurrence of mode coupling, and the feedback of high-order modes to the FM also arises earlier in convergent geometry than that in its planar counterpart. Relatively, the amplitude growth of the FM with a higher mode number is inhibited by the feedback, and saturates earlier. The FM with a lower mode number is affected more heavily by the BP effect, and finally dominates the flow. A new model is proposed to well predict the amplitude growths of the FM and high-order modes in convergent geometry. In particular, for FM that reaches its saturation amplitude, the post-saturation relation is introduced in the model to achieve a better prediction.

A decoupled mechanism of interface growth in single-mode hydrodynamic instabilities

One of the most significant issues in hydrodynamic interfacial instabilities is the growth rate of the interfacial perturbations, which plays an important role in both scientific research (e.g. supernova explosion) and engineering applications (e.g. inertial confinement fusion). Yet the underlying mechanisms of such flow phenomena remain unclear or controversial. In this paper the decoupled mechanisms of two effects are found to dominate the interface growth of the single-mode Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) and Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (RMI) via Layzer's potential-flow model. One is the inertial effect induced by the interfacial density gradient and the acceleration, and the other is the frontal distortion effect stemming from interface shape evolution. The former determines the dominant features of interface evolution, while the latter influences the local concavity and convexity of growth rate such as the overshoot phenomenon. These two effects can be approximated as a linearly decoupled analytical solution if their nonlinear interaction term is neglected. With the decoupled solution, the theoretical growth rates agree well with high-fidelity numerical simulation results. The present result indicates that the long-time evolution of fluid interface in both RTI and RMI at all density ratios can be accurately predicted if both inertia and frontal distortion effects are taken into account. Furthermore, the strong dependence of instability evolution on initial amplitude is quantified based on the effects of decoupling, which sheds light on the physical origin of the overshoot phenomenon.

An investigation of the multi-mode Richtmyer-Meshkov instability at a gas/HE interface using Pagosa

In this work, we present a hydrocode Pagosa and explore the Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability (RMI) at an air/high explosive (HE) interface for the first time that is important but has not received much attention yet in the high explosive safety field. Thus, the presented Pagosa can be expected to predict the whole deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) process in future. In Pagosa, spatial discretization is implemented on cubic staggered grids by computing different variables at the vertex and the cell center, respectively, a special operator-splitting technique is employed to reduce the computational cost, and an artificial viscosity is added to handle the discontinuous shock waves in our simulations. To quantitatively evaluate the capability of Pagosa to solve these kinds of instabilities, the single mode Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) and the multimode RMI at an air/SF 6 interface are first performed, respectively. The Pagosa results are compared with the related numerical solutions in the existing references and the experimental result. Moreover, a theoretical derivation of growth of RTI is also provided based on our numerical method. Subsequently, we explore the multi-mode RMI at an air/HE interface as well as the effects of several factors using Pagosa. Numerical results show that Pagosa is a powerful toolset to generate the right structures and the amplitude of RTI and RMI at an air/SF 6 interface. The solid HE can be penetrated by a strong shock wave and forms RMI deformations. The RMI at an air/HE interface behaves very different than at an air/SF 6 interface, periodic, decreased oscillation is observed due to material character, and is very sensitive to the initial simulation settings, that is, a tiny change in physical quantities will lead to a remarkable RMI structure, which is also observed in a shock bubble interaction [41] . The findings in this work are significant, and will present a new insight for the high explosive field. • An enhanced model Pagosa is presented with some special techniques. • Pagosa's capability to accurately capture the RTI at an air/SF 6 interface. • Pagosa's ability to accurately predict the RMI at an air/SF 6 interface. • The RMI at an air/HE interface is different from that at an air/SF 6 interface. • Effects of several factors on RMI at an air/HE interface.

Evolution of the gas-liquid interface dominated by Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

As injection pressure for diesel spray increases, the Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability increasingly impacts the interface, which dominates the deformation and breakup of the liquid interface together with the Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instability, the Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability, and turbulence, thus the breakup of sprays. Study on the gas-liquid instability dominated by RM instability is important to reveal the multiphase flow coupling in the nozzle and mechanism of the primary breakup. In this paper, a high-precision code for two-phase flow is proposed and its reliability is verified. Then the mechanism of interface evolution under high-speed airflow with the impact of RM instability is explored. The experimental and numerical methods were employed. It was found that the evolution of the gas-liquid interface can be divided into two stages according to the relative positional relationship between the shock wave and the droplet. In the first stage, the initial shock wave intersects with interface of droplet, and the reflected and refractive patterns of the shock wave change with the varying angle between the shock wave and the interface. The change of the pressure distribution and the accumulation of baroclinic vorticity at the interface play essential roles in the instability and deformation of the droplet after the initial shock wave separates from the droplet interface. In the second stage, the droplet surface gradually forms the structure of the spikes and bubbles, and the airflow with different velocities significantly influences the morphology of the droplets during the breakup, causing different breaking patterns.

Nonlinear interaction of two non-uniform vortex sheets and large vorticity amplification in Richtmyer–Meshkov instability

Vortex dynamics is an important research subject for geophysics, astrophysics, engineering, and plasma physics. Regarding vortex interactions, only limited problems, such as point vortex interactions, have been studied. Here, the nonlinear interaction of two non-uniform vortex sheets with density stratification is investigated using the vortex sheet model. These non-uniform vortex sheets appear, for example, in the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability that occurs when a shock wave crosses a layer with two corrugated interfaces. When a strong vortex sheet approaches a weaker vortex sheet with opposite-signed vorticity, a locally peaked secondary vorticity is induced on the latter sheet. This emerging secondary vorticity results in a remarkable vorticity amplification on the stronger sheet, and a strong vortex core is formed involving the weak vortex sheet. The amplified vortices with opposite signs on the two vortex sheets form pseudo-vortex pairs, which cause an intense rolling-up of the two sheets. We also investigated the dependence of distance and initial phase difference of vorticity perturbations between two vortex sheets on the vorticity amplification and vortex sheet dynamics.

Numerical simulation of an idealised Richtmyer–Meshkov instability shock tube experiment

The effects of initial conditions on the evolution of the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (RMI) at early to intermediate times are analysed, using numerical simulations of an idealised version of recent shock tube experiments performed at the University of Arizona (Sewell et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 917, 2021, A41). The experimental results are bracketed by performing both implicit large-eddy simulations of the high-Reynolds-number limit as well as direct numerical simulations (DNS) at Reynolds numbers lower than those observed in the experiments. Various measures of the mixing layer width $h$ , known to scale as ${\sim }t^\theta$ at late time, based on both the plane-averaged turbulent kinetic energy and volume fraction profiles are used to explore the effects of initial conditions on $\theta$ and are compared with the experimental results. The decay rate $n$ of the total fluctuating kinetic energy is also used to estimate $\theta$ based on a relationship that assumes self-similar growth of the mixing layer. The estimates for $\theta$ range between 0.44 and 0.52 for each of the broadband perturbations considered and are in good agreement with the experimental results. Decomposing the mixing layer width into separate bubble and spike heights $h_b$ and $h_s$ shows that, while the bubbles and spikes initially grow at different rates, their growth rates $\theta _b$ and $\theta _s$ have equalised by the end of the simulations. Overall, the results demonstrate important differences between broadband and narrowband surface perturbations, as well as persistent effects of finite bandwidth on the growth rate of mixing layers evolving from broadband perturbations. Good agreement is obtained with the experiments for the different quantities considered; however, the results also show that care must be taken when using measurements based on the velocity field to infer properties of the concentration field.

Investigation of aspect ratio effects on flow characteristics and vorticity generation in shock-induced rectangular bubble

In shock-induced Richtmyer–Meshkov instability, the polygonal bubbles, including the rectangular interface can offer favorable circumstances for shock refraction research. Also, the aspect ratio is crucial in characterizing the physics behind this instability. Therefore, the aspect ratio effects on the flow characteristics and vorticity generation in the shock-induced rectangular light gas bubbles are investigated numerically in this study. This investigation is performed for a wide range of aspect ratios varying from 0.25 to 3.0. These effects are highlighted in the interface morphology, wave paradigms, vorticity generation, enstrophy evolution, and a qualitative examination of interface deformation. For simulating two-component gas flows, a high-order explicit modal discontinuous Galerkin approach is employed to solve a two-dimensional system of compressible inviscid Euler equations. Existing experimental results for shock-induced square and cylindrical light bubbles are used to validate the numerical model and solver. The results indicate that the effects of aspect ratio are critical in characterizing the interface morphology during the interaction between the shock wave and rectangular bubble. The interface morphology evolves faster as the aspect ratio increases, and the process of transverse jet formation is observed to be significantly different. The aspect ratio effects result in a substantial change in the flow field with bubble deformation, vortex development, vorticity generation, and transverse jet formation. The effects of aspect ratio are further investigated in detail through the mechanism of vorticity generation and enstrophy evolution. Finally, these effects on shock trajectories and interface characteristics over time are thoroughly explored.

Hydrodynamic instabilities of a dual-mode air–SF6 interface induced by a cylindrically convergent shock

Shock-tube experiments are performed on the convergent Richtmyer–Meshkov (RM) instability of a multimode interface. The temporal growth of each Fourier mode perturbation is measured. The hydrodynamic instabilities, including the RM instability and the additional Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) effect, imposed by the convergent shock wave on the dual-mode interface, are investigated. The mode-coupling effect on the convergent RM instability coupled with the RT effect is quantified. It is evident that the amplitude growths of all first-order modes and second-order harmonics and their couplings depend on the variance of the interface radius, and are influenced by the mode-coupling from the very beginning. It is confirmed that the mode-coupling mechanism is closely related to the initial spectrum, including azimuthal wavenumbers, relative phases and initial amplitudes of the constituent modes. Different from the conclusion in previous studies on the convergent single-mode RM instability that the additional RT effect always suppresses the perturbation growth, the mode-coupling might result in the additional RT effect promoting the instability of the constituent Fourier mode. By considering the geometry convergence, the mode-coupling effect and other physical mechanisms, second-order nonlinear solutions are established to predict the RM instability and the additional RT effect in the cylindrical geometry, reasonably quantifying the amplitude growths of each mode, harmonic and coupling. The nonlinear solutions are further validated by simulations considering various initial spectra. Last, the temporal evolutions of the mixed mass and normalized mixed mass of a shocked multimode interface are calculated numerically to quantify the mixing of two fluids in the cylindrical geometry.

Transition in helium bubble strengthening of copper from quasi-static to dynamic deformation

Damage from low-temperature irradiation and the subsequent degradation of materials performance pose significant challenges for the storage of radioactive materials and for peripheral components in some nuclear reactor designs. Fully understanding the mechanical behavior of such materials requires test data for strain rates in both the quasi-static (< 10/s) and dynamic (≫ 10/s) regimes. While dynamic testing has generally been avoided in the past for neutron irradiated (contamination concerns) and ion irradiated (insufficient volume) materials, surface-sensitive Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) tests were used in the present work to overcome these limitations. Here, nanopillar compression, nanoindentation, and RMI testing data from a helium implanted surface layer (∼10 µm thick) were compiled to explore the effects of helium bubbles on the materials strength of high-purity copper at strain rates of 0.001/s – 108/s. While nano-mechanical testing revealed increases in yield strength and hardness with increasing helium dose from 1000 to 4000 appm He, RMI indicated no significant changes in strength as compared to unimplanted copper. This discrepancy in behavior was rationalized through a combination of recent literature and follow-on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, leading to the conclusion that the nanoscale helium bubbles acting as dispersed barriers to dislocation motion at quasi-static strain rates collapse under shock loading and cease to be effective barriers at high strain rates.

Heat transfer effects on multiphase Richtmyer–Meshkov instability of dense gas–particle flow

Multiphase Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (RMI) widely exists in nature and engineering applications, such as in supernova explosions, inertial confinement fusion, particle imaging velocimetry measurements, and supersonic combustion. Few studies on the effects of heat transfer on the mix zone width have been conducted, and those that do exist are limited to dilute gas–particle flow. To address this research gap, the effects of dense particle heat transfer in a multiphase RMI flow were investigated in this study, and a dimensionless variable that integrates the particle volume fraction and particle parameters was derived for the first time. The results indicate that the effects of dense particle heat transfer cannot be neglected because the volume fraction increases by over three orders of magnitude compared to those in previous studies. Subsequently, numerical studies using the improved compressible multiphase particle-in-cell method were conducted to investigate the effects of heat transfer on the mix zone width. A detailed wave system structure and quantitative budget analyses were performed to investigate the inherent flow characteristics. The heat transfer effect was found to influence the fluid velocity by changing the fluid pressure gradient, thereby reducing the velocity and growth rate of the mix zone. With a Mach number of 2 and a 10% particle volume fraction, the heat transfer reduced the mix zone width by approximately 22%. In addition, simulations with different particle volume fractions and temperature self-similarity demonstrated the correctness and validity of the dimensionless heat transfer time, which is beneficial for predicting the effects of dense particle heat transfer.

Synchrotron radiography of Richtmyer–Meshkov instability driven by exploding wire arrays

We present a new technique for the investigation of shock-driven hydrodynamic phenomena in gases, liquids, and solids in arbitrary geometries. The technique consists of a pulsed power-driven resistive wire array explosion in combination with multi-MHz synchrotron radiography. Compared to commonly used techniques, it offers multiple advantages: (1) the shockwave geometry can be shaped to the requirements of the experiment, (2) the pressure (P &amp;gt; 300 MPa) generated by the exploding wires enables the use of liquid and solid hydrodynamic targets with well-characterized initial conditions (ICs), (3) the multi-MHz radiography enables data acquisition to occur within a single experiment, eliminating uncertainties regarding repeatability of the ICs and subsequent dynamics, and (4) the radiographic measurements enable estimation of compression ratios from the x-ray attenuation. In addition, the use of a synchrotron x-ray source allows the hydrodynamic samples to be volumetrically characterized at a high spatial resolution with synchrotron-based microtomography. This experimental technique is demonstrated by performing a planar Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (RMI) experiment on an aerogel–water interface characterized by Atwood number A0∼−0.8 and Mach number M∼1.5. The qualitative and quantitative features of the experiment are discussed, including the energy deposition into the exploding wires, shockwave generation, compression of the interface, startup phase of the instability, and asymptotic growth consistent with Richtmyer's impulsive theory. Additional effects unique to liquids and solids—such as cavitation bubbles caused by rarefaction flows or initial jetting due to small perturbations—are observed. It is also demonstrated that the technique is not shape dependent by driving a cylindrically convergent RMI experiment.

Divergent Richtmyer–Meshkov instability on a heavy gas layer

Experiments on divergent Richtmyer–Meshkov (RM) instability at a heavy gas layer are performed in a specially designed shock tube. A novel soap-film technique is extended to generate gas layers with controllable thicknesses and shapes. An unperturbed gas layer is first examined and its two interfaces are found to move uniformly at the early stage and be decelerated later. A general one-dimensional theory applicable to an arbitrary-thickness layer is established, which gives a good prediction of the layer motion in divergent geometry. Then, six kinds of perturbed SF $_6$ layers with various thicknesses and shapes surrounded by air are examined. At the early stage, the amplitude growths of the inner interface for various-thickness layers collapse quite well and also can be predicted by the Bell model for cylindrical RM instability at a single interface, which indicates a negligible interface coupling effect. Later, a rarefaction wave accelerates the inner interface, causing a dramatic rise in the growth rate. It is found that a thicker gas layer will result in a larger extent that the rarefaction wave can promote the instability growth. A modified Bell model accounting for both Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instability and interface stretching caused by a rarefaction wave is established, which well reproduces the quick instability growth. At late stages, reverberating waves inside the layer are negligibly weak such that the inner interface growth is dominated by RM instability and RT stability. The major factors driving the outer interface development are a compression wave and interface coupling. A new interface coupling phenomenon existing uniquely in divergent geometry caused by the gradual thinning of the gas layer is observed and also modelled.