Spatio-temporal investigation of Richtmyer-Meshkov instability by simultaneous velocity-density measurements at high frame rates

The inclined shock tube at the Shock Tube and Advanced Mixing (STAM) laboratory was used to investigate the spatio-temporal evolution of Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI). A light-to-heavy gas interface that is inclined with respect to the incident shock formed the dominant mode of the initial condition before shock interaction. Experiments were conducted with and without small scales superposed on this dominant mode, and at various Mach (1.55 and 1.9) and Atwood (0.22 and 0.67) numbers. An ensemble of simultaneous velocity-density (PIV—Acetone-PLIF) measurements were made at a frame rate of 60 kHz using high speed CMOS cameras and a pulse burst laser (capable of 532 nm and 266 nm). Preliminary comparisons with our previous high resolution data, literature and theoretical comparisons show high fidelity of measurements. The dataset enables a description of velocity and mixing characteristics of RMI in a temporal framework.