Experimental investigation of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability.

The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) is experimentally investigated using several different initial conditions and with a range of diagnostics. First, a broadband initial condition is created using a shear layer between helium+acetone and argon. The post-shocked turbulent mixing is investigated using planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF). The signature of turbulent mixing is present in the appearance of an inertial range in the mole fraction energy spectrum and the isotropy of the late-time dissipation structures. The distribution of the mole fraction values does not appear to transition to a homogeneous mixture, and it is possible that this effect may be slow to develop for the RMI. Second, the influence of the RMI on the kinetic energy spectrum is investigated using particle image velocimetry (PIV). The influence of the perturbation is visible relatively far from the interface when compared to the energy spectrum of an initially flat interface. Closer to the perturbation, an increase in the energy spectrum with time is observed and is possibly due to a cascade of energy from the large length scales of the perturbation. Finally, the single mode perturbation growth rate is measured after reshock using a new high speed imaging technique. This technique produced highly time-resolved interface position measurements. Simultaneous measurements at the spike and bubble location are used to compute a perturbation growth rate history. The growth rates from several experiments are compared to a new reshock growth rate model