A multiphase shock tube for shock wave interactions with dense particle fields

Currently there is a substantial lack of data for interactions of shock waves with particle fields having volume fractions residing between the dilute and granular regimes. To close this gap, a novel multiphase shock tube has been constructed to drive a planar shock wave into a dense gas–solid field of particles. A nearly spatially isotropic field of particles is generated in the test section by a gravity-fed method that results in a spanwise curtain of spherical 100-micron particles having a volume fraction of about 20%. Interactions with incident shock Mach numbers of 1.66, 1.92, and 2.02 are reported. High-speed schlieren imaging simultaneous with high-frequency wall pressure measurements are used to reveal the complex wave structure associated with the interaction. Following incident shock impingement, transmitted and reflected shocks are observed, which lead to differences in particle drag across the streamwise dimension of the curtain. Shortly thereafter, the particle field begins to propagate downstream and spread. For all three Mach numbers tested, the energy and momentum fluxes in the induced flow far downstream are reduced about 30–40% by the presence of the particle field.