Performance of a detonation driven shock tunnel

A detonation driven shock tunnel is useful as a ground test facility for hypersonic flow research. By attaching a convergent section ahead of the primary diaphragm in the driver section, the downstream operation mode became available to generate a high-enthalpy test flow. A 100 mm diameter shock tunnel was for the first time installed in the Laboratory of High-Temperature-Gas Dynamics (LHD), Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and after its continuous refitments, a high performance detonation driven shock tunnel was achieved to generate high-enthalpy and high-Reynolds number test flows. A new method to burst a metal diaphragm with the downstream operation mode is discussed.