Open AccessInvestigation of the Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities
Author(s) -
Riccardo Bonazza
Publication year - 2006
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/877172
Subject(s) - richtmyer–meshkov instability , implosion , rayleigh–taylor instability , national ignition facility , inertial confinement fusion , mechanics , acceleration , instability , ignition system , interface (matter) , rayleigh scattering , work (physics) , physics , nuclear engineering , simulation , computer science , aerospace engineering , engineering , nuclear physics , classical mechanics , thermodynamics , plasma , optics , bubble , maximum bubble pressure method
The present research program is centered on the experimental and numerical study of two instabilities that develop at the interface between two different fluids when the interface experiences an impulsive or a constant acceleration. The instabilities, called the Richtmyer-Meshkov and Rayleigh-Taylor instability, respectively (RMI and RTI), adversely affect target implosion in experiments aimed at the achievement of nuclear fusion by inertial confinement by causing the nuclear fuel contained in a target and the ablated shell material to mix, leading to contamination of the fuel, yield reduction or no ignition at all. Specifically, our work is articulated in three main directions: study of impulsively accelerated spherical gas inhomogeneities; study of impulsively accelerated 2-D interfaces; study of a liquid interface under the action of gravity. The objectives common to all three activities are to learn some physics directly from our experiments and calculations; and to develop a database at previously untested conditions to be used to calibrate and verify some of the computational tools being developed within the RTI/RMI community at the national laboratories and the ASCI centers