Suppression of Richtmyer-Meshkov instability via special pairs of shocks and phase transitions

Abstract: The classical Richtmyer-Meshkov instability is a hydrodynamic instability characterizing the evolution of an interface following shock loading. In contrast to other hydrodynamic instabilities such as Rayleigh-Taylor, it is known for being unconditionally unstable: regardless of the direction of shock passage, any deviations from a flat interface will be amplified. In this article, we show that for negative Atwood numbers, there exist special sequences of shocks which result in a nearly perfectly suppressed instability growth. We demonstrate this principle computationally and experimentally with stepped fliers and phase transition materials. A fascinating immediate corollary is that in specific instances a phase transitioning material may self-suppress RMI.