Shock Tubes
In addition to measurements of rates of chemical kinetics, shock tubes have been used to measure dissociation energies and molecular relaxation rates, investigate shock wave behaviour, and they have been used in aerodynamic tests. The fluid flow in the driven gas (the gas behind the shock wave) can be used much as a wind tunnel, allowing higher temperatures and pressures replicating the conditions in the turbine sections of jet engines. However, test times are limited to a few milliseconds, either by the arrival of the contact surface or the reflected shock wave.
They have been further developed into shock tunnels, with an added nozzle and dump tank. The resultant high temperature hypersonic flow can be used to simulate atmospheric re-entry of spacecraft or hypersonic craft, again with limited testing times.
Read more about this topic: Compressible Flow
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