Effect of viscosity and wall heat conduction on shock attenuation in narrow channels

In the present work, the effects due to viscosity and wall heat conduction on shock propagation and attenuation in narrow channels are numerically investigated. A two-dimensional viscous shock tube configuration is simulated, and heat conduction in the channel walls is explicitly included. The simulation results indicate that the shock attenuation is significantly less in the case of an adiabatic wall, and the use of an isothermal wall model is adequate to take into account the wall heat conduction. A parametric study is performed to characterize the effects of viscous forces and wall heat conduction on shock attenuation, and the behaviour is explained on the basis of boundary layer formation in the post-shock region. A dimensionless parameter that describes the shock attenuation is correlated with the diaphragm pressure ratio and a dimensionless parameter which is expressed using the characteristic Reynolds number and the dimensionless shock travel.