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The Shock Tube

The figure to the right shows some of the physical features of the vertical shock tube.  

Total length 9.2 m
Driven length 6.8 m
Driver volume 0.28 m3
Driven volume 0.48 m3
Driven square cross section, side 0.254 m
Maximum Driver Pressure 100 atm

Key design characteristics include:

  • Vertical orientation, ideal for studying the interface between two different gases accelerated by a shock wave.
  • Large cross-sectional area to minimize interference of the wall boundary layer with the planar interface.
  • High strength steel and concrete construction, allows experiments involving strong shocks with the driven section at atmospheric pressure.
  • The internal square cross-section is achieved in the interface and test sections by welding together 67 mm thick steel plates.  This being a prohibitively expensive construction process for the entire tube, a novel approach was used for the remaining driven sections using commercially available steel pipe and a stainless steel liner.  The gap between the square liner and the round pipe is filled with concrete.
  • Modular construction for studying perturbation and mixing growth rates as a function of time.
  • Schlieren, shadowgraph and planar imaging optical techniques.
  • Combustion driver for high driver temperature experiments.
  • Shock piezoelectric pressure transducers located along the tube length for gathering pressure traces
 
 
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