Effect of an impinging shock wave on a partially opened door

Abstract

The behavior of an aluminum door hanging at the exit of an open shock tube at different angles, from 5\(^\circ \) to 85\(^\circ \), and thereby providing partially open space for the exiting flow, was investigated experimentally. Experiments were conducted with an incident shock wave Mach number of \(M_\mathrm{is}=1.1\) impinging on the partially opened door. Both pressure measurements in the vicinity of the door, on its center and inside the shock tube, and schlieren visualization were undertaken for studying the door movement and its maximum opening angle relative to its initial position. It was found that for an initial opening angle smaller than 25\(^\circ \) the door opened completely while for larger angles its motion is marginal. In addition, for an initial door opening angle of about 10\(^\circ \) the lowest pressures were recorded inside the shock tube behind the evolving waves after exiting of the incident shock wave. The present experimental results may be useful to numerical studies of fluid–structure interactions, e.g., in designing safety valves in jet engines. Such a device is needed for preventing rupture in the case when a sudden overpressure pulse is generated inside the aircraft engine compartment.