Open AccessInvestigation of the Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities
Author(s) -
Riccardo Bonazza,
Mark Anderson,
Leslie Smith
Publication year - 2004
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/820806
Subject(s) - implosion , richtmyer–meshkov instability , inertial confinement fusion , national ignition facility , rayleigh–taylor instability , mechanics , physics , rayleigh scattering , shock tube , shell (structure) , ignition system , shock wave , shock (circulatory) , nuclear physics , optics , mechanical engineering , engineering , plasma , thermodynamics , instability , medicine
Some of the major difficulties encountered in the effort to achieve nuclear fusion by means of inertial confinement arise from the unstable behavior of the interface between the shell material and the nuclear fuel which develops upon implosion of the shell by direct or indirect laser drive. The fluid flows that develop (termed the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) and the Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instabilities) cause the gassified shell material to mix with the nuclear fuel, causing a reduction in energy yield or no ignition altogether. The present research program addresses the Rayleigh-Taylor and the Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities with extensive laboratory and computational experiments. In the past year, three new activities have been initiated: a new shock tube experiment, involving the impulsive acceleration of a test gas-filled soap bubble, diagnosed with planar Mie scattering or planar induced fluorescence; a Rayleigh-Taylor experiment based on the use of a magnetorheological (MR) fluid to fix the initial shape of the interface between the MR fluid and water; and a series of computer calculations using the Raptor code (made available by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) to design and simulate the shock tube experiments