Suppression of Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability via Special Pairs of Shocks and Phase Transitions
William J. Schill, M. R. Armstrong, J. H. Nguyen, Dane M. Sterbentz, D. A. White, L. X. Benedict, R. N. Rieben, A. Hoff, H. E. Lorenzana, Jonathan L. Belof, B. M. La Lone, M. D. Staska
Abstract
The classical Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) is a hydrodynamic instability characterizing the evolution of an interface following shock loading. In contrast to other hydrodynamic instabilities such as Rayleigh-Taylor, it is known for being unconditionally unstable: regardless of the direction of shock passage, any deviations from a flat interface will be amplified. In this article, we show that for negative Atwood numbers, there exist special sequences of shocks which result in a nearly perfectly suppressed instability growth. We demonstrate this principle computationally and experimentally with stepped fliers and phase transition materials. A fascinating immediate corollary is that in specific instances, a phase-transitioning material may self-suppress RMI.