On a dusty-gas shock tube

Abstract

Abstract Analytical and numerical methods were used to investigate the flow in­duced by a shock wave in a shock-tube channel containing air laden with suspended small solid particles. Exact results are given for the frozen and equilibrium shock-wave properties as a function of diaphragm-pressure ratio and shock-wave Mach numbers. The driver contained air at high pressure. A modified random-choice method together with an operator-splitting technique show clearly both the decay of a discontinuous frozen shock wave and a contact discontinuity, and the formation of a stationary shock structure and an effective contact front of finite thickness. The effects of particle diameter, particle-number density and diaphragm- pressure ratio on the transitional behaviour of the flow are investigated in detail. The alteration of the flow properties owing to the presence of particles is discussed thoroughly and compared with classical shock-tube flows.