Jeffrey Jacobs

Experimental study of incompressible Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

The Richtmyer–Meshkov instability of a two‐liquid system is investigated experimentally. These experiments utilize a novel technique that circumvents many of the experimental difficulties that have previously limited the study of Richtmyer–Meshkov instability. The instability is generated by vertically accelerating a tank containing two stratified liquids by bouncing it off of a fixed coil spring. A controlled two‐dimensional sinusoidal initial shape is given to the interface by oscillating the container in the horizontal direction to produce standing waves. The motion of the interface is recorded during the experiments using standard video photography. Instability growth rates are measured and compared with existing linear theory. Disagreement between measured growth rates and the theory are accredited to the finite bounce length. When the linear stability theory is modified to account for an acceleration pulse of finite duration, much better agreement is attained. Late time growth curves of many differe...

PLIF flow visualization and measurements of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of an air/SF6 interface

Investigations of the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability carried out in shock tubes have traditionally used membranes to separate the two gases. The use of membranes, in addition to introducing other experimental difficulties, impedes the use of advanced visualization techniques such as planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF). Jones & Jacobs (1997) recently developed a new technique by which a perturbed, membrane-free gas–gas interface can be created in a shock tube. The gases enter the shock tube from opposite ends and exit through two small slots on opposite sides of the test section, forming a stagnation point flow at the interface location. A gentle rocking motion of the shock tube then provides the initial perturbation in the form of a standing wave. The original investigation using this technique utilized dense fog seeding for visualization, which allowed large-scale effects to be observed, but was incapable of resolving smaller-scale features. PLIF visualization is used in the present study to investigate the instability generated by two incident shock strengths ( M s = 1.11 and 1.21), yielding very clear digital images of the flow. Early-time growth rate measurements obtained from these experiments are found to be in excellent agreement with incompressible linear stability theory (appropriately adjusted for a diffuse interface). Very good agreement is also found between the late-time amplitude measurements and the nonlinear models of Zhang & Sohn (1997) and Sadot et al . (1998). Comparison of images from the M s = 1.11 and 1.21 sequences reveals a significant increase in the amount of turbulent mixing in the higher-Mach-number experiments, suggesting that a mixing transition has occurred.

The dynamics of shock accelerated light and heavy gas cylinders

Experiments have been carried out in which a cylindrical volume of a gas, that is either lighter or heavier than its surroundings, is impulsively accelerated by a weak shock wave. Laminar jets of helium or sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) are used to produce the cylinders, and planar laser‐induced fluorescence is used to visualize the flow. It is found that the vorticity deposited on the boundary of the SF6 cylinder by the interaction with the shock wave, separates from the heavy gas to form a pair of vortices, which subsequently wrap the SF6 around them. This process is quite different from what is observed in the light gas experiments, which showed a small amount of helium to remain with the vorticity, eventually becoming part of the vortex cores. Centrifugal forces combined with differences in the rates of the diffusion of vorticity in the two gases are given as possible reasons for these differences. Measurement of the initial downstream velocity for a heavy gas cylinder is found to agree well with a theory...

A MEMBRANELESS EXPERIMENT FOR THE STUDY OF RICHTMYER-MESHKOV INSTABILITY OF A SHOCK-ACCELERATED GAS INTERFACE

Previous Richtmyer–Meshkov instability experiments carried out in shock tubes have been hampered by the need to separate the two gases with a thin plastic membrane. As a result, many of these experiments have had poor agreement with the linear stability theory of Richtmyer [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 23, 297 (1960)]. This limitation has been removed in the present investigation by the use of a novel technique in which the interface is formed by flowing light (N2) and heavy (SF6) gases from opposite ends of a vertical shock tube. Both gases exit the shock tube through slots in the test section walls leaving behind a flat motionless interface which is then given a sinusoidal initial shape by gently oscillating the shock tube at a prescribed frequency in the horizontal direction. A weak shock wave (Ms=1.10), generated in the shock tube, impacts the interface and produces the instability. Photographs of the interface, which is visualized by seeding the heavy gas with a water droplet fog and illuminating it with...

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 agr...

A round turbulent jet produced by an oscillating diaphragm

A round turbulent water jet produced normal to, and at the center of a submerged, resonantly driven diaphragm is investigated experimentally. The jet which is formed without mass injection and is comprised entirely of radially entrained fluid, is present only when the excitation amplitude exceeds a given threshold. Above this excitation level, a small cluster of cavitation bubbles appears near the center of the diaphragm. The bubbles grow, apparently collapse, and then disappear during each oscillation cycle. It is conjectured that the jet is synthesized by time‐periodic coalescence of vortex rings that are produced by secondary flow around the bubbles or by the collapse of the bubbles. It is remarkable that even though the jet results from a strong time‐periodic excitation and its time‐periodic features are detected throughout the present range of measurements, the time‐averaged jet structure is similar to that of a conventional turbulent round jet in that the increase in its width and in the inverse of ...

Shock-induced mixing of a light-gas cylinder

Experiments have been carried out to quantify the mixing induced by the interaction of a weak shock wave with a cylindrical volume of a gas (helium) that is lighter than its surroundings (air). In these experiments a round laminar jet was used to produce the light-gas cylinder, and planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF), utilizing a fluorescent tracer (biacetyl) mixed with the helium, was used to visualize the flow. These techniques provide a higher quality of flow visualization than that obtained in previous investigations. In addition, the PLIF technique could be used for the measurement of species concentration. The distortion of the helium cylinder produced by the passing shock wave was found to be similar to that displayed by images from previous experimental and computational investigations. The downstream displacement of several points on the boundary of the light-gas cylinder are measured and agree reasonably well with the results of earlier experimental and theoretical studies as well. Because the mixing process causes the helium originally contained within the cylinder to be dispersed into the surrounding air, the PLIF image area inside the contour at one half the maximum concentration of the fluorescent tracer decreases as the two gases mixed. The change in this area is used as a measure of the mixing rate, and it is found that the time rate of change of this area divided by the area of the initial jet is approximately - 0.7 X 10^3 S^(-1).

Experimental study of Rayleigh–Taylor instability: Low Atwood number liquid systems with single-mode initial perturbations

Single-mode Rayleigh–Taylor instability is experimentally studied in low Atwood number fluid systems. The fluids are contained in a tank that travels vertically on a linear rail system. A single-mode initial perturbation is given to the initially stably stratified interface by gently oscillating the tank in the horizontal direction to form standing internal waves. A weight and pulley system is used to accelerate the fluids downward in excess of the earth’s gravitational acceleration. Weight ranging from 90 to 450 kg produces body forces acting upward on the fluid system equivalent to those produced by a gravitational force of 0.33–1.35 times the earth’s gravity. Two fluid combinations are investigated: A miscible system consisting of a salt water solution and a water–alcohol solution; and an immiscible system consisting of a salt solution and heptane to which surfactant has been added to reduce the interfacial tension. The instability is visualized using planar laser-induced fluorescence and is recorded u...

Three-dimensional Rayleigh-Taylor instability Part 1. Weakly nonlinear theory

Three-dimensional weakly nonlinear Rayleigh-Taylor instability is analysed. The stability of a confined inviscid liquid and an overlying gas with density much less than that of the liquid is considered. An asymptotic solution for containers of arbitrary cross-sectional geometry, valid up to order e 3 (where e is the root-mean-squared initial surface slope) is obtained. The solution is evaluated for the rectangular and circular geometries and for various initial modes (square, hexagonal, axisymmetric, etc.). It is found that the hexagonal and axisymmetric instabilities grow faster than any other shapes in their respective geometries. In addition it is found that, sufficiently below the cutoff wavenumber, instabilities that are equally proportioned in the lateral directions grow faster than those with longer, thinner shape. However, near the cutoff wavenumber this trend reverses with instabilities having zero aspect ratio growing faster than those with aspect ratio near 1.

Experimental Study of the Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability of Incompressible Fluids

Richtmyer-Meshkov (R-M) instability occurs when two different density fluids are impulsively accelerated in the direction normal to their nearly planar interface. The instability causes small perturbations on the interface to grow and possibly become turbulent given the proper initial conditions. R-M instability is similar to the Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) instability, which is generated when the two fluids undergo a constant acceleration. R-M instability is a fundamental fluid instability that is important to fields ranging from astrophysics to high-speed combustion. For example, R-M instability is currently the limiting factor in achieving a net positive yield with inertial confinement fusion. The experiments described here utilize a novel technique that circumvents many of the experimental difficulties previously limiting the study of the R-M instability. A Plexiglas tank contains two unequal density liquids and is gently oscillated horizontally to produce a controlled initial fluid interface shape. The tank is mounted to a sled on a high speed, low friction linear rail system, constraining the main motion to the vertical direction. The sled is released from an initial height and falls vertically until it bounces off of a movable spring, imparting an impulsive acceleration in the upward direction. As the sled travels up and down the rails, the spring retracts out of the way, allowing the instability to evolve in free-fall until impacting a shock absorber at the end of the rails. The impulsive acceleration provided to the system is measured by a piezoelectric accelerometer mounted on the tank, and a capacitive accelerometer measures the low-level drag of the bearings. Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence is used for flow visualization, which uses an Argon ion laser to illuminate the flow and a CCD camera, mounted to the sled, to capture images of the interface. This experimental study investigates the instability of an interface between incompressible, miscible liquids with an initial sinusoidal perturbation. The amplitude of the disturbance during the experiment is measured and compared to theory. The results show good agreement (within 10%) with linear stability theory up to nondimensional amplitude ka = 0.7 (wavenumber x amplitude). These results hold true for an initial ka (before acceleration) of -0.7 less than ka less than -0.06, while the linear theory was developed for absolute value of ka much less than 1. In addition, a third order weakly nonlinear perturbation theory is shown to be accurate for amplitudes as large as ka = 1.3, even though the interface becomes double-valued at ka = 1.1. As time progresses, the vorticity on the interface concentrates, and the interface spirals around the alternating sign vortex centers to form a mushroom pattern. At higher Reynolds Number (based on circulation), an instability of the vortex cores has been observed. While time limitations of the apparatus prevent determination of a critical Reynolds Number, the lowest Reynolds Number this vortex instability has been observed at is 5000.