Free Piston Reflection Shock Tunnel Design
We propose to further expand our hypersonic systems initiative program by further expanding the Hypersonic Systems Lab to include a high enthalpy Free-Piston Reflected Shock Tunnel. The Free-Piston Reflected Shock Tunnel is intended to fill a missing component of the facilities in the Hypersonic Systems Lab and other larger facilities at Notre Dame by being capable of generating hypersonic environments at realistic flight enthalpies. The design will be based on the recent Sandia HS2 design[Lynch et al., 2019, 2022, 2023, Stennett, 2024]. The tunnel will include a Mach 10 nozzle to provide a companion to the Notre Dame Mach 10 Quiet Tunnel. The proposal includes instrumentation to support the new facility that will include Self-focussing Schlieren, FLDI, and a Nitric Oxide Velocimetry setup that is particularly well suited for the tunnel conditions.
K. Lynch, S. Spitzer, T. Grasser, R.Spillers, P. Farias, and J. Wagner. A free-piston driven shock tube for generating extreme aerodynamic environments: design and first shots. AIAA SciTech Forum Paper 2019-1942, January 2019.
K. Lynch, T. Grasser, P. Farias, K. Daniel, R.Spillers, C. Downing, and J. Wagner. Design and characterization of the sandia free-piston reflected shock tunnel. AIAA SciTech Forum Paper 2022-0968, January 2022.
K. Lynch, T. Grasser, R.Spillers, C. Downing, K. Daniel, E. Jans, s> Kearney, B. Morreale, R. Wagnild, and J. Wagner. Design and characterization of the sandia free-piston reflected shock tunnel. Shock Waves, 33:299–314, 2023.
S. L. Stennett. Development of an extended test time operating mode for a large reflected shock tunnel facility. University of Queensland Report, 2024.
The research group includes 9 Ph.D. students involved in a broad variety of hypersonic systems related projects. Along with Prof. Corke, theses students provide mentoring. The students involved in the design of the new facility will leave a lasting mark on the University that will be used by future student and contribute to our understanding of high Mach number aerodynamics.