Abstract

Shock wave dynamics is a topic with a wide variety of applications ranging from removal of kidney stones to inertial confinement fusion. In reality, the shock front is most often followed by a decay in flow properties, and therefore it is of interest to better understand shock dynamic events for these situations. Thus, an experimental facility that can provide results that are accurate, highly controlled, affordable and with a quick turn-around time are needed. Here, we present the design of an exploding wire system that can be coupled to either a two-dimensional or a three-dimensional test section to provide the user with a multitude of settings to study shock dynamics emanating from shock waves with decaying flow properties behind the shock front. Schlieren photographs taken with an ultra-high speed camera are also presented to show that the exploding wire system functions as intended in both two- and three-dimensional setups.