SMALL AMPLITUDE THEORY OF RICHTMYER-MESHKOV INSTABILITY

This paper presents a new analysis of small amplitude Richtmyer-Meshko v instability. The linear theory for the case of reflected rarefaction waves, a problem not treated in previous work, is formulated and nume rically solved. This paper also carries out a systematic comparison of Richtmyer's impulsive model to the small amplitude theory, which has identified domains of agreement as well as disagreement between the tw o. This comparison includes both the reflected shock and reflected rar efaction cases. Additional key results include the formulation of crit eria determining the reflected wave type in terms of preshocked quanti ties, identification of parameter regimes corresponding to total trans mission of the incident wave, discussion of an instability associated with a rarefaction wave, investigation of phase inversions and the rel ated phenomenon of freeze-out, and study of the sensitivity of the num erical solutions to initial conditions.