Experiments on the late-time development of single-mode Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

The late-time development of Richtmyer-Meshkov instability is studied in shock tube experiments. This investigation makes use of the experimental apparatus and visualization methods utilized in the earlier study of Collins and Jacobs [J. Fluid Mech. 464, 113 (2002)] but employs stronger shocks and initial perturbations with shorter wavelengths to obtain much later-time (in the dimensionless sense) images of the single-mode instability. These modifications produce a very detailed look at the evolution of the late-time single-mode instability, revealing the transition and development of turbulence in the vortex cores that eventually results in the disintegration of the laminar vortex structures into small scale features. Amplitude measurements taken from these images are shown to be effectively collapsed when plotted in dimensionless variables defined using the wave number and the initial growth rate. The amplitude measurements are compared with several late-time nonlinear models and solutions. The best agreement is obtained with the model of Sadot [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 1654 (1998)] which can be slightly improved by modifying the expression for the late-time asymptotic growth rate. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.