The interaction between shock waves and solid spheres arrays in a shock tube

When a shock wave interacts with a group of solid spheres, non-linear aerodynamic behaviors come into effect. The complicated wave reflections such as the Mach reflection occur in the wave propagation process. The wave interactions with vortices behind each sphere's wake cause fluctuation in the pressure profiles of shock waves. This paper reports an experimental study for the aerodynamic processes involved in the interaction between shock waves and solid spheres. A schlieren photography was applied to visualize the various shock waves passing through solid spheres. Pressure measurements were performed along different downstream positions. The experiments were conducted in both rectangular and circular shock tubes. The data with respect to the effect of the sphere array, size, interval distance, incident Mach number, etc., on the shock wave attenuation were obtained. The project supported by the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry, China, and the “BaiRen” Plan of Chinese Academy of Sciences