The 14th International Workshop on the Physics of Compressible Turbulent Mixing

Abstract

The theoretical, numerical, and experimental study of compressible, variabledensity, and incompressible turbulent mixing associated with Richtmyer–Meshkov (RM), Rayleigh–Taylor (RT), and Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instabilities is motivated by diverse applications in science and engineering including combustion and other chemically reacting flows, stratified geophysical flows, inertial confinement fusion (ICF), and astrophysical flows (supernovae, molecular clouds, and stellar interiors, for example). The study of these instabilities and associated mixing is particularly challenging due to the fact that they involve multiple fluids (or materials), rather than single fluids. The Reynolds number becomes very large in many of these applications, and the instabilities rapidly lead to turbulent mixing. In the case of ICF, which is currently an intensively studied approach to controlled thermonuclear fusion (and a potential alternative to magnetic fusion): (1) these instabilities lead to growth of perturbations on the interfaces within the fuel capsules; (2) the perturbations grow into the nonlinear regime by modecoupling, eventually resulting in the mixing of materials; and (3) the material mixing inhibits or otherwise reduces the efficiency of thermonuclear burning of the fuel.