Application of superfluid shock tube facility to experiments of highly transient low-temperature thermo-fluid dynamic phenomena Original Research Article

The superfluid shock tube facility has been developed as a versatile tool for experimental research on thermo-fluid dynamic phenomena of superfluid helium. The shock tube is designed to operate with the He II-filled test section, which is immersed in superfluid helium. The primary research targets are two modes of shock wave propagation and the shock compressed phase transitions (He II to He I, He II to Solid He). The phenomena realized in the shock tube are high-speed ones with a characteristic time of the order of a few microseconds. As some advanced experimental technologies are required for the measurement, piezo-type pressure transducers and high-response superconductive temperature sensors are used for the measurements of the transient variations in the pressure and temperature.