Experimental Studies of Shock Wave-Related Phenomena at the Ben-Gurion University: A Review

The shock tube laboratory at the Ben-Gurion University was founded at the early 1970s by Profs. Ozer Igra and Gabi Ben-Dor. About two decades later, the system was reassembled and altered to investigate the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI). Recruiting new students (including myself) and a well-known scientist, Dr. Alex Britan RIP, the research activities expanded and became deeper. New shock tubes were constructed, new diagnostic techniques were implemented, and new equipment were purchased. In the presentation, some studies that were conducted during the past two decades and not published yet in the open literature will be presented. One of the main objectives of the study in the laboratory has been the RMI. In this study, a shock wave crosses the interface between two fluids having different densities and accelerates it. As a result, the interface becomes unstable and small perturbations grow nonlinearly. We were interested in the evolution of a well-defined multimode initial perturbation. Another subject that was intensely investigated was the starting process in a nozzle. We investigated the problem with two aims: (a) to better understand the effect of asymmetry of the nozzle on the flow inside it and (b) to better understand the flow in the nozzle when different pressure profiles initiated the flow.