Interaction of a normal shock wave with a compressible turbulent flow

A speckle photographic method, which is sensitive to changes of gradients in fluid density, is applied for analyzing a compressible turbulent air flow with density fluctuations. Spatial correlation coefficients, turbulent length scales, and energy spectra are determined under the assumption of homogeneous isotropic turbulence. The experiments are performed in a shock tube where the flow is passed through a turbulence grid. Measurements are taken before and after the turbulent regime interacts with the normal shock wave reflected from the tube's end wall. Amplification of the turbulence intensity by the shock interaction process is verified quantitatively and is shown to be restricted to the lower wave numbers in the spectrum.A version of this paper was presented at the 11th Symposium on Turbulence, University of Missouri-Rolla, Oct. 17–19, 1988.To Professor Dr.-Ing. Klaus Gersten on the occasion of his 60th birthday