STUDY OF SHOCK PROPAGATION IN A RAREFIELD PLASMA, INTERACTION OF SHOCK WAVES WITH MAGNETIC FIELDS AND BASIC LAWS OF MAGNETO-GAS-DYNAMICS
Abstract
Mach 20-70 shock waves are produced by rapid ohmic heating from fast capacitor discharges between electrodes inserted into two opposing ends of a T-shaped tube or from electrodeless discharges in a cylindrical tube surrounded by a single turn coil of a magnetic compression apparatus. With T-tubes, the shock waves propagate into about 1 mm Hg of hydrogen or helium that is pre-excited and ionized by the ultraviolet radiation from the dicharge. With magnetic compression, about 0.1 mm Hg of hydrogen is preionized by an auxiliary discharge through the same coil, and a slowly varying magnetic bias field is established by another capacitor discharge. Spectroscopic determinations of the equilibrum conditions behind the shock fronts in T-tubes were made and are in progress for the cylindrically imploding shock waves in the magnetic compression experiment. Some insight into the structure of the shock fronts was gained from the rise-times of spectral line intensities. The shock-heated plasma in the T-tubes is apparently in local thermal equilibrum and could therefore be used as a thermal light source for the determination of Stark broadening parameters of hydrogen and helium lines. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1961
- Accession Number
- AD0272821
Entities
People
- H.r. Griem
Organizations
- University of Maryland