QUANTITATIVE THEORY OF RICHTMYER-MESHKOV INSTABILITY

The acceleration of a material interface by a shock wave generates an interface instability known as the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. Prev ious attempts to model the growth rate of the instability have produce d values that are almost twice that of the experimental measurements. This Letter presents numerical simulations using front tracking that f or the first time are in quantitative agreement with experiments of a shocked air-SF6 interface. Moreover, the failure of the impulsive mode l, and the linear theory from which it is derived, to model experiment s correctly is understood in terms of time limits on the validity of t he linear model.