Experimental study of Richtmyer-Meshkov instability induced by cylindrical shock waves

The paper describes the results of holographic interferometric flow visualization of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability induced by cylindrical shock waves propagating across cylindrical interfaces. Experiments were conducted in an annular coaxial vertical diaphragmless shock tube, which can produce converging cylindrical shock waves with minimum disturbances. The shock wave converged and interacted with a cylindrical soap bubble filled with He, Ne, air, Ar, Kr, Xe, or SF6. The soap bubble was placed coaxially in the test section. The effects of density variation on the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability for a wide range of Atwood numbers were determined. Pressure histories at different radii during the shock wave implosion and reflection from the center were measured. Double-exposure holographic interferometry was used and the motion of the converging shock wave and its interaction with the gaseous interface were visualized. The variation of the pressure at the center with interface Atwood number for constant incident shock Mach number was studied. It is found that the dominant mechanism limiting the maximum pressure at the center of convergence is related to the instability of the converging shock wave induced by its interaction with the interface. A short time after the impulsive acceleration, the interface started deforming, and the growth of these perturbations is described. The results show that after diverging shock wave interaction, the reshocked cylindrical interfaces have a higher growth rate of the turbulent mixing zone than that of the reshocked interface in a plane geometry reported by previous works. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.