Shock Propagation and Supersonic Drag in Low Temperature Plasmas
Abstract
This work supported the development of new diagnostic techniques, modeling, and a series of experiments designed to study the propagation of shock waves through weakly ionized plasmas. It also supported the design and construction of a small-scale, supersonic, microwave-coupled wind tunnel to determine the effects of weakly ionized plasmas on supersonic flow properties and shock stand-off distances around blunt bodies. The motivation of the work was to establish whether the ions and electrons in the weakly ionized plasma affected the shock propagation, as has been claimed by some research groups. The work conducted under this grant has had four principal outcomes: I. The determination that effects associated with shock propagation through weakly ionized plasmas can be fully described by spatially non-uniform temperature fields rather than charge particle interactions. 2. The development of a capability to measure neutral gas temperature profiles by ultraviolet filtered Rayleigh scattering. 3. The design, construction, and demonstration of a Mach 3 wind tunnel integrated into a tapered microwave wave guide for the study of microwave discharges and supersonic flow. 4. The further development of new diagnostic techniques, including the use of atomic, refluorescence, and dispersive filters for rotational raman detection, a MHz pulse-burst laser for the visualization of shock wave/boundary layer interactions, and the use of group velocity dispersion in an atomic vapor filter to characterize the performance of laser seeding devices.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 23, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA396744
Entities
People
- Richard B. Miles
Organizations
- Princeton University