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

The superfluid shock tube facility has been developed as a versatile tool f or experimental research on thermo-fluid dynamic phenomena of superfluid he lium. The shock tube is designed to operate with the He II-filled test sect ion, which is immersed in superfluid helium. The primary research targets a re two modes of shock wave propagation and the shock compressed phase trans itions (He II to He I, He It to Solid He). The phenomena realized in the sh ock tube are high-speed ones with a characteristic time of the order of a f ew microseconds. As some advanced experimental technologies are required fo r the measurement, piezo-type pressure transducers and high-response superc onductive temperature sensors are used for the measurements of the transien t variations in the pressure and temperature. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.