Study of shock-wave flows in the channel by schlieren and background oriented schlieren methods

Abstract

The results of recording gas flow in a shock tube by the schlieren and background oriented schlieren (BOS) methods after initiating a pulsed (surface or volume) discharge are presented. Simultaneous recording of the flow field by the two methods allows a complete qualitative and quantitative analysis of the shock-wave processes resulting from the interaction of a pulse discharge with high-velocity flow. The vector displacement field of the BOS method was determined by the cross-correlation method. The density field was obtained by solving the Poisson equation with special boundary conditions. It was shown that the BOS method yields a good quality map of the flow structure that corresponds to the classical schlieren method and provides reliable quantitative results except in areas of high gradients. A modification of the BOS method was proposed and tested to measure the density jump at the shock-wave front. Recording was performed at an angle to the plane of the wave front. Various Schemes of processing of digital flow images were tested. The proposed method provides a resolution of large density gradients at the shock-wave front. The obtained quantitative results are consistent with the calculated values.