Numerical Simulation of the Effect of Finite Diaphragm Rupture Process on Micro Shock Tube Flows

Recent years have witnessed the use of micro shock tube in various engineering applications like micro combustion, micro propulsion, particle delivery systems etc. The flow characteristics occurring in the micro shock tube shows a considerable deviation from that of well established conventional macro shock tube due to very low Reynolds number and high Knudsen number effects. Also the diaphragm rupture process, which is considered to be instantaneous process in many of the conventional shock tubes, will be crucial for micro shock tubes in determining the near diaphragm flow field and shock formation. In the present study, an axi-symmetric CFD method has been applied to simulate the micro shock tube, with Maxwell's slip velocity and temperature jump boundary conditions. The effects of finite diaphragm rupture process on the flow field and the shock formation was investigated, in detail. The results show that the shock strength attenuates rapidly as it propagates through micro shock tubes.