AERODYNAMIC STUDIES IN THE SHOCK TUBE Thesis by Josef Rabinowicz In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California 1957ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express his indebtedness to Professor L. Lees for his guidance and encouragement throughout the progress of this work. To Drs. H. T. Nagamatsu and Y, Yoler are expressed a special word of thanks for initiating and encouraging the author into the shock tube work as well as to Dr. A. Roshko for many helpful discussions and to Mr. R. Evans for much help in the performance of the experi- ments. The cooperation of Mr. M. E. Jessey and C, A, Bartsch in the development of the resistance thermometer gage is gratefully acknowledged, The author wishes to thank Mrs. T. van Harreveld for performing the computations, Mrs. B. Wood for preparing the figures and the GALCIT secretarial staff for preparing the manuscript. iiABSTRACT In order to utilize the shock tube for quantitative investigations of some aerodynamic problems a thin platinum film resistance thermometer was developed for heat transfer rate measurements, The present report describes the construction and calibration of the heat transfer gage. Since the experimental technique presents a major problem this investigation has been carried out in the straight section of the shock tube where the flow conditions are well defined and readily measured, These flow conditions were calculated utilizing the most recent NBS data on air properties at high temperatures. The flow conditions were also measured utilizing the heat transfer gage and several independent experimental techniques, and good agreement was found with the equilibrium flow calculations after an initial period of 30 - 50 fAsec. Measurements of the heat transfer rate at the forward stagnation point and on the circumference of a circular cylinder are reported and compared with the theoretical calculations of L. Lees. A method for deduction of surface pressure distribution from the laminar boundary-layer heat transfer data is also presented. iii