Hypersonic Shock Tunnel

Hypersonic shock tunnel

The usage of vacuum based shock tunnels are coming into prominence because of theri mobility and operational convenience in collecting data. They supplement and comolement each other. This technology becoming popular with the advent of hypersonic tunnels required for space and aeronautical applications.

This is  a facility for generating shock waves to study the aerodynamics of aerospace components. For example, it can be used  to simulate and study the flow field around a spacecraft or ballistic missile during its re-entry into the earth's atmosphere.  This facility can simulate simultaneously both the flight speed  and stagnation temperatures associated with hypersonic vehicles.

The tunnel consists of a long shock tube, a conical nozzle and a dump tank. The shock tube is honed for a precision surface finish and evacuated using rotary vacuum pump systems. A dump tank is connected to the shock tube through a conical nozzle. After evacuation the driver section of the shock tube is filled with a mixture of gases at a pressure of 150 bar in order to burst the diaphragm and  create shock waves in the test section where the samples are located. 

Tunnel size .	180 mm
Pressure operating	150 bar
Dump tank size	1500 mm dia x 5200 mm length
Nozzle cone  dimensions (D)	180mm (D) at the entry 1000 mm at the  exit
Shock tube	180 mm dia for 100 bar
Driver tube	180 mm dia for 150 bar
High vacuum system for Dump tank	24000 lit / sec  speed for  10 -4 m.bar
Total Length of tunnel	23.16 m
Maximum speed simulated	10 Mach