Experimental Study of a Shock-Accelerated Thin Gas Layer

Abstract

Planar laser-induced fluorescence imaging is utilized in shock-tube experiments to visualize the development of a shock-accelerated thin gas layer. The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of both sides of the heavy gas layer causes perturbations initially imposed on the two interfaces to develop into one of three distinct flow patterns. Two of the patterns exhibit vortex pairs which travel either upstream or downstream in the shock tube, while the third is a sinuous pattern that shows no vortex development until late in its evolution. The development of the observed patterns as well as the growth in the layer thickness is modeled by considering the dynamics of vorticity deposited in the layer by the shock interaction process. This model yields an expression for the layer growth which is in good agreement with measurements.