Direct numerical simulation of the multimode narrowband Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

Abstract: Early to intermediate time behaviour of the planar Richtmyer--Meshkov instability (RMI) is investigated through direct numerical simulation (DNS) of the evolution of a deterministic interfacial perturbation initiated by a $\textrm{Ma}=1.84$ shock. The model problem is the well studied initial condition from the recent $\theta$-group collaboration [Phys. Fluids. 29 (2017) 105107]. A grid convergence study demonstrates that the Kolmogorov microscales are resolved by the finest grid for the entire duration of the simulation, and that both integral and spectral quantities of interest are converged. Comparisons are made with implicit large eddy simulation (ILES) results from the $\theta$-group collaboration, generated using the same numerical algorithm. The total amount of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) is shown to be decreased in the DNS compared to the ILES, particularly in the transverse directions, giving rise to a greater level of anisotropy in the flow (70\% vs. 40\% more TKE in the shock parallel direction at the latest time considered). This decrease in transfer of TKE to the transverse components is shown to be due to the viscous suppression of secondary instabilities. Overall the agreement in the large scales between the DNS and ILES is very good and hence the mixing width and growth rate exponent $\theta$ are very similar. There are substantial differences in the small scale behaviour however, with a 38\% difference observed in the minimum values obtained for the mixing fractions $\Theta$ and $\Xi$. Differences in the late time decay of TKE are also observed, with decay rates calculated to be $\tau^{-1.41}$ and $\tau^{-1.25}$ for the DNS and ILES respectively.