High-Speed Flow Visualization by a Nanosecond Volume Discharge during Shock Wave Diffraction on an Obstacle

Abstract

We study the spatial structure of nonstationary inhomogeneous supersonic airflows as shock wave diffraction on an obstacle occurs in a shock tube of a rectangular cross section. The Mach numbers of shock waves were 2.7–4.4 at initial air pressures of 10–30 Torr. The supersonic flow in the discharge chamber was visualized by high-speed shadowgraphy and by the registration of radiation of combined volume discharge by photo camera and by ICCD camera. In experiments, a combined volume discharge with a current duration of ~ 500 ns was initiated 40–150 μs after the initial shock wave have passed an obstacle. It has been established that the radiation of the volume phase of discharge lasts 400–700 ns, and the displacement of the flow during this time does not exceed 0.6 mm. A correlation is established between the spatial distribution of discharge radiation and the low-density local areas determined as a result of two-dimensional Navier-Stokes based numerical simulation of the flow. As visualized by the glow of the discharge, the shape of the shock wave front is in good agreement with the results of shadowgraphy at different stages of diffraction and with the numerical simulation results.