Analysis of second-moments and their budgets for Richtmyer-Meshkov instability and variable-density turbulence induced by re-shock

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamics of Richtmyer-Meshkov instability and turbulence re-shock effects using second-moment analysis from high-resolution simulations, emphasizing the roles of turbulent mass flux and density-specific-volume covariance.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of second-moments and their budgets in variable-density turbulence induced by re-shock, highlighting the influence of subfilter-scale stresses and grid sensitivities.

Findings

Second-moments are crucial for modeling turbulence in re-shock flows.

Subfilter-scale stresses have minimal impact on large-scale turbulence budgets.

Grid resolution affects the accuracy of turbulent quantity evolution.

Abstract

Nonlinear Richtmyer--Meshkov instability and mixing transition induced by a Mach 1.45 shock and subsequent re-shock at an interface between two ideal gases (sulfur hexafluoride and air) with high Atwood number are studied with second-moment analysis using data from high-resolution compressible Navier--Stokes simulations. The analysis first addresses the importance of two second-order moments: turbulent mass flux and density-specific-volume covariance, together with their transport equations. These quantities play an essential role in the development of Favre-averaged Reynolds stress and turbulent kinetic energy in this variable-density flow. Then, grid sensitivities and the time evolution of the turbulent quantities which include the second-moments are investigated, followed by a detailed study of the transport equations for the second-moments including the Reynolds stress and the turbulent kinetic energy with well-resolved data before re-shock. After re-shock, budgets of the same but large-scale turbulent quantities are studied with the effects of the subfilter-scale stress taken into account. The budgets of these large-scale quantities are shown to have an insignificant influence from the numerical regularization. Finally, the effects of the subfilter-scale stress on the budgets of the large-scale turbulent quantities with different degrees of filtering are also examined.