Simulations of jetting behavior from a shocked micro-groove surface*

Shock compression of metal surfaces with machined grooves can create matter jets at high temperatures and pressures with conditions that mimic those of astrophysical and subterranean geophysical processes. Recent work using the OMEGA facility has measured properties of such jets at low and high pressure drives where the jet material is solid and liquid on release, respectively. However, less is known about the behavior of the jets under a wide range of drive strengths and sample dimensions. In this work, we use hydrodynamic simulations to elucidate salient physics of shock-driven jetting behavior in tin surfaces. In addition to observing a near linear scaling in total mass ejection with increasing sample thickness, we also observe a power law in the density distribution of the jet as it moves downstream. We characterize the power law exponent for different groove angles and drive strengths. Understanding such physics in a single jet will prove useful for the design of more complicated interactions involving jet collisions.