| Abstract: | About a decade after its foundation, the most advanced ballistics laboratory in Germany at the time, the  Kruppsche Schiessplatz, was utilized by Ernst Mach in 1888. His intent was to validate his pioneering shock wave research using military shells as supersonic vehicles. The 125th anniversary of the Schiessplatz was celebrated in 2002. Along with Mach s research, it served to initiate the field of supersonic transportation technology. The specific subject of this paper is the application of point-source spark shadowgraphy at the same laboratory in the 1970s to visualize gas flow over aeroballistic projectiles. However, different from Machs original interest, the new purpose of spark photography at that time in the ballistic ranges of the German Bundeswehr was to find technical solutions to aeroballistic problems when field-testing gave incomplete answers. Both a qualitative and a quantitative understanding of the principles of aeroballistics were sought in this research.Received: 3 February 2003, Accepted: 30 June 2003, Published online: 2 September 2003An abridged version of this paper was presented at the 13th American Physical Society Topical Conference on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter at Portland, Oregon, from July 20 to 25, 2003 |
