The BGU Shock Tube Laboratory consists of the following six shock tubes:
Shock Tube | Cross-section [mm x mm] | Driver Length [m] | Driven Length [m] | Driver/driven separation | Vacuum Sealed? | Shock Mach Number Range |
ST-I* | 80 x 80 | 2 | 3.6 | Mylar Diaphragm | Yes | 1 < Ms ≤ 6 |
ST-II | 80 x 80 | 2 | 3.5 | Mylar Diaphragm | No | 1 < Ms ≤ 2 |
ST-III | 56 x 56 | 2 | 3 | Fast Valve | No | 1 < Ms ≤ 2.5 |
ST-IV | 32 x 32 | 1.8 | 3 | Fast Valve | No | 1 < Ms ≤ 2
|
ST-V** | 31 x 31 | 1 | 2 | Mylar Diaphragm | No | 1 < Ms ≤ 1.4 |
ST-VI*** | 200 | 2 | 10 | Mylar Diaphragm | No | 1 < Ms ≤ 2 |
* This is a vertical shock tube
** The test section of this shock tube is transparent.
*** The cross section of this shock tube is round.
The walls of all the shock tubes are equipped with numerous flush-mounted piezoelectric pressure transducers (PCB, Kistler, Endevco) that are used for both pressure history and shock wave velocity measurements and triggering purposes.
Schlieren and shadowgraph photography methods are used to record the various shock wave related phenomena.
High-speed photography is applied using a shutterless rotating-prism camera (Vivitro Hi-Spin) that is coupled with the following lasers:
- A 25-Watt Nd:YAG frequency doubled laser, which can be pulsed at intervals of about 20 to 200 µs.
- A 1-Watt Nd:YAG frequency doubled laser, which can be pulsed at intervals of about 10 to 200 µs or operated in a continues mode.
- A 2-Watt copper-vapor laser, which can be pulsed at intervals of about 100 µs.
