The time scale for the transition to turbulence in a high Reynolds number, accelerated flow

An experiment is described in which an interface between materials of different density is subjected to an acceleration history consisting of a strong shock followed by a period of deceleration. The resulting flow at this interface, initiated by the deposition of strong laser radiation into the initially well characterized solid materials, is unstable to both the Richtmyer–Meshkov (RM) and Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instabilities. These experiments are of importance in their ability to access a difficult experimental regime characterized by very high energy density (high temperature and pressure) as well as large Reynolds number and Mach number. Such conditions are of interest, for example, in the study of the RM/RT induced mixing that occurs during the explosion of a core-collapse supernova. Under these experimental conditions, the flow is in the plasma state and given enough time will transition to turbulence. By analysis of the experimental data and a corresponding one-dimensional numerical simulation of the...

[1]  R. P. Drake,et al.  Scaling supernova hydrodynamics to the laboratory , 1998 .

[2]  M. Baus,et al.  Kinetic theory of the shear viscosity of a strongly coupled classical one-component plasma , 1978 .

[3]  G. Fontaine,et al.  Diffusion coefficients for stellar plasmas , 1986 .

[4]  P. Dimotakis.  The mixing transition in turbulent flows , 2000, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[5]  Omar Hurricane,et al.  An experimental testbed for the study of hydrodynamic issues in supernovae , 2000 .

[6]  M. Brouillette,et al.  Experiments on the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability: Wall effects and wave phenomena , 1999 .

[7]  Supernova-relevant Hydrodynamic Instability Experiments on the Nova Laser , 1997 .

[8]  C. W. Hirt,et al.  Effects of Diffusion on Interface Instability between Gases , 1962 .

[9]  Stephen D. Jacobs,et al.  Direct‐drive laser‐fusion experiments with the OMEGA, 60‐beam, >40 kJ, ultraviolet laser system , 1996 .

[10]  Haan.  Onset of nonlinear saturation for Rayleigh-Taylor growth in the presence of a full spectrum of modes. , 1989, Physical review. A, General physics.

[11]  Serge Gauthier,et al.  On the Reynolds Number in Laser Experiments , 1996 .

[12]  R. Teyssier,et al.  Two-dimensional versus Three-dimensional Supernova Hydrodynamic Instability Growth , 2000, The Astrophysical Journal.

[13]  Samuel A. Letzring,et al.  Initial performance results of the OMEGA laser system , 1997 .

[14]  R. London,et al.  Supernova hydrodynamics experiments on the Nova laser , 1997 .

[15]  Geoffrey Ingram Taylor,et al.  Statistical theory of turbulenc , 1935, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A - Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[16]  R. D. Richtmyer.  Taylor instability in shock acceleration of compressible fluids , 1960 .

[17]  G. Taylor.  The instability of liquid surfaces when accelerated in a direction perpendicular to their planes. I , 1950, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[18]  J. Lumley,et al.  A First Course in Turbulence , 1972 .

[19]  R. P. Drake,et al.  Similarity Criteria for the Laboratory Simulation of Supernova Hydrodynamics , 1999 .

[20]  J. Huba.  NRL: Plasma Formulary , 2004 .

[21]  Stephen M. Lane,et al.  HYADES—A plasma hydrodynamics code for dense plasma studies , 1994 .

[22]  T. S. Perry,et al.  The flexible x‐ray imager , 1996 .

[23]  P. Bell,et al.  Measurements of core and pusher conditions in surrogate capsule implosions on the OMEGA laser system , 1998 .

[24]  K. Meyer,et al.  Numerical Investigation of the Stability of a Shock‐Accelerated Interface between Two Fluids , 1972 .

[25]  J. Clérouin,et al.  The viscosity of dense plasmas mixtures , 1998 .

[26]  J. W. Gibbs,et al.  Scientific Papers , 2002, Molecular Imaging and Biology.