The Shock Tube

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

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