Authors:

Soham Pawaskar

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About Paper:

As high-speed aircraft traverse atmospheric regions, micron-scale droplets suspended in the air can interact with the produced shock fronts and potentially contribute to vehicle surface degradation, presenting the need for improved physical understanding and modeling of these interactions, which remains limited in current literature. This study investigates the shock-induced breakup of aqueous droplets using Purdue's 3-inch shock tube (P3IST) to characterize how droplet behavior varies across a range of flow conditions relevant to high-speed atmospheric flight, thereby supporting the development of a predictive model for droplet fragmentation. Droplets 150-300?microns in diameter, formed with solutions of water and isopropyl alcohol to vary surface tension, are dispensed into the driven section using a high-speed actuator. Shock waves producing flow speeds ranging from Mach 1 to 3 are initiated by a manually triggered electronic diaphragm burst system. The droplet breakup caused by the passing of the incident shock is captured by a high-speed camera focused through a Schlieren optical setup. Pressure data collected by a series of pressure transducers is used to quantify the temporal and spatial development of the shock. Observed breakup mechanisms followed vibrational, bag, bag-stamen, stripping, and potential transitional types. A physical correlation was established between the breakup mode and the Reynolds and Weber numbers describing flow and droplet properties, indicating the existence of three general regimes. However, further study is needed to improve the prediction and classification of transitional breakup types, and future research will separately investigate ice particle interactions to better represent conditions encountered at higher altitudes. Keywords: Shock Wave; Droplet Breakup; Purdue 3-Inch Shock Tube

Source:

Purdue University / 2025

Topics:

No topics listed

Co-authors:

Soham Pawaskar