Numerical simulations of Richtmyer-Meshkov Instabilities in Newtonian and Non-Newtonian fluids

The development of Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities in Newtonian and Non-Newtonian fluids is studied using numerical simulations. This study reveals the influence of non-Newtonian effects on the development of Richtmyer-Meshkov instability characteristics such as amplitude, span, stream, and neck. The simulations show how these structures impact the mixing process and the energy distribution.  This work is conducted using deuterium and melted polymer which are  treated as Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, respectively. The results are compared with simulation cases where both fluids are treated as Newtonian fluids. In this case, it is assumed that the non-Newtonian effects are negligible due to high pressure gradients.  This research aims to show a correlation between non-Newtonian effects and energy distribution at conditions relevant to planar shock-induced inertially-confined nuclear fusion experiments.