High-speed simultaneous velocity & density measurement of compressible multifluid shock-vortex interaction*

In the intermediate stages of Richtmyer-Meshkov/Rayleigh-Taylor instability development, prior to the development of turbulence, vortical flow structures are commonly observed at the outer extents of the mixing region. The evolution of these structures upon reshock may play an important role in the tails of the mixedness distribution, but they are difficult to repeatably study because of the inherently unstable mixing process.

To capture these vortex-shock interaction events in isolation, an ensemble of simultaneous PLIF/PIV measurements were acquired at 20 kHz following the firing of a small, open-ended, argon-filled shock tube (D = 2.2 cm) upwards into ambient nitrogen. The measurements capture the initial propagation of the argon vortex ring as well as its perturbation upon M=1.75 shock and subsequent reshock.