Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) occurs when an interface between fluids of differing density is impulsively accelerated, e.g. by the passage of a shock wave. The development of the instability begins with small amplitude perturbations which initially grow linearly with time. This is followed by a nonlinear regime with bubbles appearing in the case of a light fluid penetrating a heavy fluid, and with spikes appearing in the case of a heavy fluid penetrating a light fluid. A chaotic regime eventually is reached and the two fluids mix. During the implosion of an inertial confinement fusion target, the hot shell material surrounding the cold D-T fuel layer is shock-accelerated. Mixing of the shell material and fuel is not desired and efforts are made to minimize any tiny imperfections or irregularities which will be magnified by RMI. At an entirely different scale, stellar core materials (e.g. Cobalt-56) from Supernova 1987A were observed earlier than expected, giving evidence of turbulent mixing due to Richtmyer-Meshkov and Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities.
