An attempt to reduce the membrane effects in Richtmyer–Meshkov instability shock tube experiments

A new device has been developed to reduce the effects of the initial materialization of the gaseous interface in the context of horizontal shock tube experiments for the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability study. The thin nitrocellulosic membrane deposited on a stereolithographed grid support woven with thin wires is destroyed by thermal effect, through a powerful electrical pulse, just before the arrival of the incident shock wave. We present a first attempt realized in the light/heavy gas configuration (air/SF 6 ) and compared with the experiments carried out without destruction. We show that the present device allows to reduce the influence of the membrane on the instability development.