Nonideal Effects Behind Reflected Shock Waves in a High-Pressure Shock Tube
Abstract
Shock tubes often experience temperature and pressure nonuniformities behind the reflected shock wave that cannot be neglected in chemical kinetics experiments. Because of increased viscous effects, smaller tube diameters, and nonideal shock formation, the reflected-shock nonidealities tend to be greater in higher-pressure shock tubes. Since the increase in test temperature (delta T5) is the most significant parameter for chemical kinetics, experiments were performed in the Stanford High Pressure Shock Tube using infrared emission from a known amount of CO in Argon. From the measured change in vibrationally equilibrated CO emission with time, the corresponding dT5/dt (or deltaT5 for a known time interval) of the mixture was inferred assuming an isentropic relationship between post-shock temperature and pressure changes. For a range of representative conditions in Argon (20-530 Atm, 1240-1900 K), the test temperature 2 cm from the end wall increased 3-8 K after 100 microseconds and 15-40 K after 500 microseconds, depending on the initial conditions. Separate pressure measurements using a shielded piezoelectric transducer confirmed the isentropic assumption. An analytical model of the reflected-shock gas dynamics was also developed. The measured incident-shock axial velocity profile and a model of the boundary layer growth provide the upstream boundary conditions needed to define the properties behind the moving reflected shock. The calculated deltaT5's agree well with those obtained from experiment. The analytical model was used to estimate the effects of temperature and pressure nonuniformities on typical chemical kinetics measurements. When the kinetics are fast and occur in less than 300 microseconds, the temperature increase is typically negligible, although some correction is suggested for kinetics experiments lasting longer than 500 microseconds.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 17, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA379020
Entities
People
- Eric L. Petersen
- Ronald Kenneth Hanson
Organizations
- Stanford University