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Article
Effects of Magnetic Fields on Magnetohydrodynamic Cylindrical and Spherical Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability
Physics of Fluids
  • Wouter Mostert, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Vincent Wheatley
  • Ravi Samtaney
  • Dale I. Pullin
Abstract

The effects of seed magnetic fields on the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability driven by converging cylindrical and spherical implosions in ideal magnetohydrodynamics are investigated. Two different seed field configurations at various strengths are applied over a cylindrical or spherical density interface which has a single-dominant-mode perturbation. The shocks that excite the instability are generated with appropriate Riemann problems in a numerical formulation and the effect of the seed field on the growth rate and symmetry of the perturbations on the density interface is examined. We find reduced perturbation growth for both field configurations and all tested strengths. The extent of growth suppression increases with seed field strength but varies with the angle of the field to interface. The seed field configuration does not significantly affect extent of suppression of the instability, allowing it to be chosen to minimize its effect on implosion distortion. However, stronger seed fields are required in three dimensions to suppress the instability effectively.

Department(s)
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Comments

This research was partially supported under Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme (Project No. DP120102378).

Keywords and Phrases
  • Magnetohydrodynamic(s),
  • Richtmyer-Meshkov [instability],
  • Inertial confinement fusion,
  • Incident fast shock,
  • Transmitted fast shock,
  • Reflected fast shock,
  • Fast shock interaction with the density interface,
  • Hydrodynamic(s),
  • Rayleigh-Taylor [instability],
  • Density interface,
  • Incident slow shock,
  • Transmitted sub-fast wave,
  • Reflected sub-fast wave,
  • Slow shock interaction with the density interface
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2015 American Institute of Physics (AIP), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
10-6-2015
Publication Date
06 Oct 2015
Citation Information
Wouter Mostert, Vincent Wheatley, Ravi Samtaney and Dale I. Pullin. "Effects of Magnetic Fields on Magnetohydrodynamic Cylindrical and Spherical Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability" Physics of Fluids Vol. 27 Iss. 10 (2015) ISSN: 1070-6631; 1089-7666
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/wouter-mostert/6/