ENCLOSURE - A

1. Background:
1.1. Shock waves are formed when a sudden disturbance is created in a medium or when
there is a sudden deposition of energy in a confined medium.
1.2. Physical blast generates spherical or hemispherical high pressure shock wave fronts that
will cause huge damage to personnel and property.
1.3. Shock wave reflected pressures of 22 MPa (220 bar) are experienced near the hull
structure of the anti mine blast vehicles due to the blast of underground mines.
1.4. The vehicle structures undergo plastic deformation and in turn the shock is transferred to
the vehicle cabin affecting the occupants.
1.5. A study of the material or structural response to shock wave loading is necessary to
develop efficient blast mitigation methods.
2. Theory of Shock Tube:
2.1. General methods of producing Shock waves are by
2.1.1. Accelerating an object at supersonic speeds
2.1.2. Detonation of explosives
2.1.3. Sudden release of confined gases in a restricted volume
2.2. Shock tube is designed on principle of sudden release of confined gases in a restricted
volume.
2.3. Shock tube consists of a high pressure chamber (Driver Tube) and low pressure chamber
(Driven Tube) separated by a thin diaphragm as shown in Figure 1.
2.4. Different gas combinations such as air-air and helium-air can be used in Driver and Driven
tubes respectively.
2.5. Aluminum, Copper, Steel and Mylar can be used as diaphragms in Shock Tube to
separate driver and driven gases. Thicker foils or combination of foils can be used to
obtain high shock pressures.
2.6. The diaphragm ruptures when the gas pressure in driver tube reaches the critical
pressure (fracture strength) of the diaphragm.
2.7. It allows the driver gas to enter suddenly into the driven tube by compressing the existing
driven gas. This sudden disturbance creates a shock wave traveling towards the right.
2.8. The sudden expansion of the driver gas creates a fan of expansion or rarefaction waves
traveling towards left as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1. Schematic of shock tube with generated shock wave
Figure 2. Distance vs Time plot in Shock Tube
2.9.The temperature, pressure and density in the driven section increases due to shock wave
formation after the diaphragm ruptures as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3:
Pressure and Temperature variations in Shock Tube
2.10. Pressure sensors are mounted on the shock tube to record pressure data of the shock
wave.
2.11. The specimen or target is kept at the exit of the shock tube.
2.12. The shock wave first impacts the target and reflects back as a reflected shock wave into
the driven tube.
2.13. The change in velocity of the shock wave generates force on the specimen to deform.
3. Analytical Equations
3.1. The shock front properties can be predicted using Rankine Hugnoit equations.
3.2. The driver pressure
4
P and driven pressure
1
P are separated by a diaphragm as shown
in Figure 3.
3.3. After diaphragm rupture, the pressure
2
P &
3
P
generated across the diaphragm are in
equilibrium.
3.4. The shock pressure is denoted by
2
P and the shock strength
1
2
P
P
is a function of initial
pressure ratio
1
4
P
P
as shown in Equation 1.


(Eq 1)

, is ratio of specific heats

RT c , is speed of sound in the gas medium
3.5. The shock wave travels at the supersonic speeds, i.e., Mach Numbers greater than 1.


(Eq 2)
, W is the velocity of shock wave
,
1
c is the speed of sound in the driven tube gas
3.6. The temperature and density variations are shown in Equation 3 and Equation 4.



(Eq 3)

( )
( ) ( )
1
2
1
2
1 1 1
1
2
4
1
4
1
2
1
4
4
4
1 1 2 2
1 1
1

'

1
]
1

,
_

+ +

,
_

,
_

P
P
P
P
c
c
P
P
P
P
( )
1 1
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
+

,
_

+

P
P
c
W
Number Mach

1
1
1
1
1
]
1

,
_

+
+
+

1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
P
P
P
P
P
P
T
T

1
2
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
P
P
P
P
+

,
_

+
+

(Eq 4)