Controlling Richtmyer-Meshkov unstable jetting using angled shock waves

Unstable jetting due to the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) is present across a variety of applications involving shock waves, including inertial confinement fusion experiments and shaped charges. The ability to reduce or enhance this jetting is therefore a key technological challenge. Unstable RMI jetting is generated as a shock wave passes through a groove at a material interface, which deposits vorticity near the groove due to misalignments in pressure and density gradients as the shock wave transits the interface. By further aligning or misaligning the angle of a bent shock wave with the angle of the groove, the magnitude of the jetting can be altered. We use both simulation, theory, and experiment to demonstrate that bent shock waves are an effective means of controlling jetting by affecting the jet energy and velocity. We use both explosives experiments and a pioneering new method that involves an exploding wire to produce the shock wave. Our results show that varying the angle of a bent shock wave can be used to effectively tune the magnitude of the RMI jetting.