Extreme compression of fluids by strong imploding shocks

The main goal of our research is to investigate by experiment, computation and theory the major physical properties of shock propagation in gas and various multiphase media such as gas-liquid and liquid gas. Our group is in the possession of two major experimental setups: shock tube setup and exploding wire setup.

Over the years we have developed methods of controlling the focusing process of converging shocks. We have shown that the form of converging shock is closely connected to its stability.

We have developed and applied experimental methods of stable 2D and 3D shock focusing leading to extreme states in compressed gas with temperatures in excess of 31,000 K as well as shock propagation in gas/liquid media.Both experimental setups are being significantly rebuild and extended by new arrangements to achieve the novel research aims stated in this proposal.

A new fully automated shock tube with rectangular section and fast opening valve stands ready to serve our quest to study the non-equilibrium gas dynamics of strong shock convergence in various gases.

Based on novel experimental data our goal is to obtain a modified version of Guderley’s classical solution taking into account the non-ideal gas effects.

Whereas a new exploding wire configuration is being constructed and will be used to explore production of extreme states of matter by cylindrical and spherical shock focusing in water resulting in final strong blast implosion on bubbles with various gas content.