Suppression of Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability via Special Pairs of Shocks and Phase Transitions

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.132.024001
• Publication Date: 2024-01-09T15:04:33Z
• Authors: W. J. Schill; M. R. Armstrong; J. H. Nguyen; D. M. Sterbentz; D. A. White; L. X. Benedict; R. N. Rieben; A. Hoff; H. E. Lorenzana; J. L. Belof; B. M. La Lone; M. D. Staska
• Keywords: Condensed Matter - Other Condensed Matter; 0103 physical sciences; Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn); FOS: Physical sciences; Physics - Fluid Dynamics; 01 natural sciences; Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other)

The classical Richtmyer-Meshkov instability 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.