An Experimental Study of Nonstationary Instabilities of Planar Shock Waves in Ionizing Argon
Abstract
A multipulse laser-schlieren technique was used to study the time behaviour of instabilities in the translational front of planar shock waves in ionizing argon in the 10 x 18 cm hypervelocity shock tube at UTIAS. Using a ruby laser in a combined normal-lasing/giant-pulse mode, at least two monochromatic light pulses were obtained about 7 microsec apart. As well, a schlieren system compatible with the 23 cm dia Mach-Zehnder interferometer was created with maximum sensitivity for some low-density conditions. The almost-sinusoidal perturbations were found to change with time; some like a standing wave, and others like a travelling wave. It was not, however, possible to associate the observed perturbations with either form of wave motion in nearly half of the cases. A simple graph provides a way to predict the shape of the perturbations from the shock-wave parameters.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA093413
Entities
People
- W. L. Buchanan
Organizations
- University of Toronto