ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF AN IMPLOSION-DRIVEN SHOCK TUBE.

An analytical and experimental study was made of the performance of a 1-in dia shock tube driven by an 8-in dia hemispherical implosion driver. The analytical performance of the shock tube was predicted by numerically solving the set of governing nonlinear partial differential equations including appropriate loss mechanisms in the different regimes of the flow. A simplified solution was developed in the form of a simple equation allowing the maximum expected shock velocity to be predicted for a given set of initial conditions. This simplified solution agreed extremely well with an exact numerical solution. The actual performance of the shock tube was determined experimentally by monitoring the shock velocity, flow uniformity, and test time for differeent driver conditions.