Experimental Studies of Shock Wave Interaction with Droplets and Particulates

The problem of a planar shock interaction with gas curtains (cylinders) whose plane (axis) of symmetry is parallel to the plane of the shock has been well studied both experimentally and numerically, and in this case, the flow evolution driven by Richtmyer-Meshkov instability is well characterized (although, as this paper shows, assumptions commonly made about the experimental conditions need to be carefully checked). However, for a similar oblique interaction, with the plane of the shock and the plane (axis) of the density interface being non-parallel, presently only numerical results exist. The problem of oblique shock interaction is quite interesting to study experimentally both because of a variety of relevant applications and because it adds large-scale three-dimensionality to the initial conditions. Additionally, there is a considerable interest in the problem of shock interaction with particulates, droplets, and bioagents suspended in gas. Here we describe our experimental arrangement for the studies of planar and oblique shocks and present some preliminary results.