Interaction of a shock wave with a two-phase interface

The acceleration by an incident shock of a planar interface between a gas and a particle-gas mixture has been investigated experimentally and numerically. The experiments were conducted in a newly developed vertical shock tube in which the planar interface of the particle-gas mixture was generated and its particle concentration history was measured. Polydisperse corn starch particles with a mean diameter of 10m were used. We recorded the motion of the interface, as well as of the incident and reflected shock by using a 4 channel spark shadowgraph. The experimental conditions were Mach numberM_s=5.15 and initial pressurep₁=50kPa for various particle concentrations in nitrogen. The reflected shock appears with a delay after the incident shock enters the particle-gas mixture. Numerical methods were employed to solve the two-phase governing equations. Experiments and numerical solutions are in good agreement.This article was processed using Springer-Verlag T_EX Shock Waves macro package 1.0 and the AMS fonts, developed by the American Mathematical Society.