Planar Shock Acceleration of a Droplet-Seeded Gas Jet: Three-Dimensional Features*

When a planar shock wave generated in a shock tube accelerates a nominally two-dimensional density interface, the large-scale flow structure is usually regarded as quasi-two-dimensional. We examine the limitations of this assumption due to interaction with wall boundary layers, growth of three-dimensional instabilities, and other factors. The initial conditions are produced by a laminar cylindrical jet of gas vertically injected into the test section of the shock tube. Flow visualization images in several planes intersecting the flow reveal a non-trivial three-dimensional structure. Experiments are conducted both for ``classical'' Richtmyer-Meshkov instability and for its multiphase analog induced by particle seeding.