The influence of density ratio on instabilities present in supernova remnants.

The presented work focuses on the comparison of high-speed (10 kHz) velocity measurements at different Atwood numbers. Data collected in the Georgia Tech Blast Wave Facility is analyzed for growth of the mixing width based on TKE estimations, and circulation is compared for different fluid structure formations resulting from different density ratios. Detonators are used to generate blast waves which mix a variable density interface by depositing baroclinic vorticity. Here, there are two primary fluid instabilities present that make up the BDI, the Richtmyer-Meshkov (RMI) and Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities (RTI). The unique cylindrical geometry provides an important platform to collect data for validation in predictive models in flows subjected to Bell-Plesset effects, and variable density effects. The experimental data is aimed at eventually estimating the various velocity statistics, and exploring vorticity models that can be used to predict growth rates.

Ensembles of high spatiotemporal resolution velocity data are compared with high-speed Mie scattering visualizations at a similar parameter space.