Boundary-layer structure in a shock-generated plasma flow: Part 2. Experiments using a new quantitative schlieren technique

Abstract

The shock-tube side-wall boundary layer in a 1 eV, high-density argon plasma was studied experimentally using anew, simple, quantitative schlieren technique. The angular refraction of light which enters the shock-tube test section parallel to a side wall and passes through typically 1 mm thick boundary layers was determined in two separate wavelengths. This was done by measuring the displacements of two shadows formed by two thin wires placed in the point source light, which is reflected non-centrally by a concave spherical mirror. The experiments were of exploratory nature only, but clearly demonstrated the feasibility of the new technique in analysing plasma-boundary-layer flows. Measured electron density profiles in the high-temperature region of the sidewall boundary layers agreed within experimental errors with those calculated from the equilibrium-boundary-layer theory.