Quantitative Schlieren measurements of a high energy electromagnetic transducer acoustic shock field

Schlieren photography has been used to analyse quantitatively the acoustic field of an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT). By measuring the angle through which the rays are refracted it is possible to compute the refractive index gradient and thus determine both the absolute and complex pressure related structures of the images. Using this method, planar and focused shock transients generated by the EMAT have been evaluated and compared with transducer derived pressure measurements. The peak pressure in the unfocused shock was found to be 3.2 MPa and 4.6 MPa for the Schlieren and piezoelectric transducer measurements respectively. Corresponding values for the focused shock-wave agreed to within experimental error at about 19 MPa.