Pressure Probes for Research in Plasma Dynamics and Detonation

Abstract

Three pressure transducers that can be used in high temperature gas dynamic studies are described and their performance discussed. It is shown that the Baganoff gauge can be usefully employed to study high temperature and pressure gaseous detonation wave phenomena, provided the gauge is constructed from glass. This modification results in greatly reduced sensitivity, but preserves the high frequency response and over-all characteristics of the original gauge. A second gauge, using the pressure bar principle, is shown to have wide application in studies of high temperature shock waves in the presence of large magnetic and electric fields, provided the pressure bar is constructed from a nonconductor having appropriate properties. The results of experiments with this gauge indicate that, even with poor acoustic matching of the gauge elements, it is possible to obtain an accurate estimate of the pressure behind a shock or blast wave with a time resolution of about 2 μsec. The third device described is designed for use where only the accurate arrival time of a pressure pulse is desired and has been used extensively at this Laboratory for plotting shock trajectories in magnetic shock tubes.