Hypersonics Group

California Institute of Technology

Ae104

Overview

Several Ae104 projects have been facilitated by the Caltech Hypersonics Group.

Ae104b projects are "canned" experiments with a known outcome intended to instruct students in the fundamentals of working in a laboratory. Projects last approximately three weeks. One project is typically offered each year.

Ae104c projects are more open-ended experiments that require students to work in groups of 2-3 and see a project through from start to finish. Students are advised by a faculty member and a senior graduate student listed in parentheses below. Projects officially last one 9-week term, but are often extended as part of a student's Ph.D. research. Typically one project is facilitated per year.

Ae104b

6-inch Shock Tube

Projects include shock speed measurements to verify the shock-tube equation and measurements of reflected shock bifurcation.

Checklist (last updated 2013)

Handout, contains project and facility descriptions (last updated 2013)

Ludwieg Tube

Project is designed to introduce students to fundamental concepts in experimental supersonic flow, including shadowgraphy, schlieren visualization, high-speed photography by verifying perfect gas oblique shock relations

Checklist (last updated 2014)

Handout, contains project and facility descriptions (last updated 2014)

Schlieren Visualization

Project introduces students to schlieren visualization with several examples of common compressible flows. Students gain experience with optics and photography for fluid mechanics.

Handout, contains project description (last updated 2015)

Ae104c

Measuring Compliant Surface Motion for Fluid-Structure Interaction in Supersonic Flow. Guiallaume Beardsell, Joel Lawson, and Mallory Neet (Austin/Leibowitz)

T5 Experiments: Design of Double Cone and MSL Heat Flux Measurements. Matthew Leibowitz, Jean-Christophe Veilleux, and Nelson Yanes (Austin/Knisely)

New Starting Device for GALCIT Ludwieg Tube. Richard Kennedy and Jason Schlup (Shepherd/Schmidt)

Study of Ultrasonic Attenuation in Carbon Dioxide. Greg Smetana and Neel Nadkarni (Shepherd/Schmidt)

The Combustion Driven Shock Tube. Brock Bobbitt, Sermet Sahaner, and Bryan Schmidt (Shepherd/Parziale)

Optical and Pressure Measurements of Tunnel Noise in the Ludwieg Tube. Neal Bitter, Thomas Vezin, and Stacy Levine (Shepherd/Parziale)