The Ludwieg Pressure-Tube Supersonic Wind Tunnel

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Abstract
Summary: A description is given of a supersonic pressure-tube wind tunnel which has been constructed at A.R.D.E. This is a blow-down tunnel which uses as a reservoir a long tube filled with gas under pressure. A quasi-steady supersonic flow is achieved by expanding in a convergent-divergent nozzle the subsonic flow behind rarefaction waves which propagate down the tube when a diaphragm at the nozzle exit is burst. The theory of the operation of the tunnel is given and calculations are made of the boundary-layer growth along the tube. Pressure-time records were obtained in the tube, and a high speed camera was used to obtain pictures of the flow round a model. Measurements also included a pitot-tube traverse of the nozzle exit, and the Mach number distribution was determined from the ratio of the pitot to the stagnation pressure. Tests showed that, as predicted, a constant stagnation pressure was obtained ahead of the nozzle, and it is considered that a tunnel of this type would be a cheap and simple way of obtaining an intermittent tunnel with adequate running time for many types of test, and capable of operating at a Reynolds number of more than 107 per inch at a Mach number of about 3·5.

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