A dusty-gas shock tube has been used to experimentally investigate the
structure of a normal shock wave in steady one-dimensional dusty-gas
flows. The investigation includes: direct and indirect measurements of
the pressure, gas- and particulate-phase velocities and concentration
s in the initial equilibrium region before the shock arrival; measurem
ents of the changes in these properties across the shock front; measur
ements of these properties in the final equilibrium region; and measur
ements of the variations of these properties as a function of time thr
ough the relaxation zone that separates these initial and final equili
brium regions. Results of these experiments show that the thermodynami
c variables follow the trends predicted by two-phase theory, but gener
ally reach equilibrium in a shorter relaxation time than that predicte
d by computations using the standard drag coefficient.