Luminous Front Thickness in Electric Shock Tubes

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Five electric shock tube arrangements have been studied by means of photomultiplier signals. The risetime of the luminous front as it passes the detector station is converted to a thickness by means of the measured front speed. These thicknesses are correlated with initial conditions of pressure from 0.15 to 5.0 Torr of argon, and input power from 0.8 to 262×106 W, for tubes with luminous front speeds from 3 to 30 mm/μ sec. For each tube the front thickness increases with input energy and, in general, the thickness of the luminous transition zone is proportional to the peak current. Identification of the luminous front is with the ``hairpin'' driving current, rather than with a shock wave initiated by it. A maximum current density picture of this driving current is suggested by the data.