A STUDY OF THE PROCESSES INDUCED BY THE REFLECTION OF STRONG SHOCKS IN NITROGEN. Technical Report No. 13

Technical Report · Mon Sep 15 04:00:00 EDT 1958

OSTI ID:4251740

Jahn, R G; Grosse, F A

Electrical and optical effects accompanying the reflection of Mach 6 shock waves in nitrogen from ihe end wall of a shock tube are studied experimentally by a series of complementary techniques involving thin-film resistance thermometers, internal and external electrostatic probes, 3 cm microwave absorption probes, spectrograms, photocells, intenferograms, and luminosity photographs. The reflected shock is found to be badly distorted by its interaction with the boundary layer on the tube wall, thereby leaving a nonuniform gas zone behind it. The brilliant luminosity of this hot gas, due primarily to a minute sodium impurity, is also nonuniform, both radially and longitudinally, but has a distinct leading edge. This same zone of gas displays an average free electron density ~ lO/sup 13/cm/sup 3/, also attributable to easily ionized impurities, which renders it electrically conducting and establishes internal potentials detectable far from the zone itself. Within ihe 3 to l0% resolution of the experiments, the luminous front and the free charge front are coincident and travel at a uniform velocity of ~650 m/sec, about l0% higher than the theoretical value for a one-dimensional shock reflection process. (auth)

• Research Organization: Lehigh Univ., Bethlehem, Penna. Inst. of Research
• NSA Number: NSA-13-007861
• OSTI ID: 4251740
• Report Number(s): NP-7286; Project NR 061-063
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ABSORPTION
ANISOTROPY
DENSITY
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRONS
ELECTROSTATICS
EMISSION
FILMS
GASES
IMPURITIES
INTERACTIONS
INTERFERENCE
IONIZATION
LAYERS
LIGHT
MEASURED VALUES
NITROGEN
OPTICAL SYSTEMS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOGRAPHY
PHYSICS AND MATHEMATICS
REFLECTION
SHOCK WAVES
SODIUM
SPECTRA
SPECTROMETERS
SPECTROSCOPY
THERMOMETERS
THICKNESS
TUBES
VARIATIONS
VELOCITY
ZONES