An experimental study of shock transmission from a detonation tube

• Published in: Shock waves 2022-07, Vol.32 (5), p.427-436
• Main Authors: Thomas, J. C., Rodriguez, F. A., Teitge, D. S., Kunka, L. N., Gaddis, G. N., Browne, Z. K., Ahumada, C. B., Balci, E. T., Jackson, S. I., Petersen, E. L., Oran, E. S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acoustic waves; Acoustics; Condensed Matter Physics; Deflagration; Detonation; Engineering; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Engineering Thermodynamics; First principles; Fluid- and Aerodynamics; Gas mixtures; Heat and Mass Transfer; Inert atmospheres; Normal shock waves; Original Article; Overpressure; Thermodynamics
• ISSN: 0938-1287; 1432-2153
• DOI: 10.1007/s00193-022-01086-2

An experimental evaluation of the transmission of shock waves from a detonating gas mixture in a 0.5-in-inner-diameter open-ended tube into an inert atmosphere is described in this paper. Stoichiometric H 2 /O 2 at 1 atm was used as the reactive gas medium. Results from in-tube diagnostics indicated successful deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT), which leads to an overdriven detonation before exiting the tube at near Chapman–Jouguet (CJ) conditions. Out-of-tube diagnostics characterized the transmission of the shock wave into the surrounding environment, where the shock wave decays into an acoustic wave as it travels away from the tube exit. A mathematical treatment of overpressure and time-of-arrival data allowed for a direct analytical description of the transmitted shock wave’s transient velocity. This description is combined with a first-principles gas-dynamics treatment of the moving normal shock wave to describe the conditions behind the attenuating shock wave. This work furthers the understanding of shock transmission from an open-ended detonation tube and provides a theoretical framework to estimate the resulting conditions.