An analytical nonlinear theory of Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

Richtmyer-Meshkov instability is a fingering instability which occurs at a material interface accelerated by a shock wave. We present an analytic, explicit prediction for the growth rate of the unstable interface. The theoretical prediction agrees, for the first time, with the experimental data on air-SF₆, and is in remarkable agreement with the results of recent full nonlinear numerical simulations from early to late times. Previous theoretical predictions of the growth rate for air-SF₆ unstable interfaces were about two times larger than the experimental data.