Experiments and numerical simulations are performed on the Rayleigh-Taylor instability with a complex acceleration history $g\left(t\right)$ consisting of consecutive periods of acceleration, deceleration, and acceleration. The dominant bubbles and spikes that grow in the initial unstable phase are found to be shredded by the trailing structures during the stable deceleration phase. This reduces their diameter at the front and increases the atomic mixing such that the growth during the final unstable acceleration is retarded. The simulations are able to describe the bubble evolution only if broadband initial perturbations are assumed. Such a complex $g\left(t\right)$ is useful for validating mix models.

• Received 2 July 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.76.046313