Experimental study of interaction of shock waves with the contact boundary zone and turbulent mixing of different gases

The interaction of a shock wave with turbulent flow has been experimentally investigated. The case where the shock wave formed on one end of the tube, passed through the interface between two resting gases with different densities (air–$\mathrm{CO}_2$ or air–$\mathrm{Ar}$), reflected from the end of the tube and interacted with turbulent mixing zone formed at the contact boundary. The Mach number of the shock wave incident on the interface in air was $\mathrm{M} \approx 2.37-2.57$. The flow field was recorded using schlieren method and high-speed video recording. It is found that after passing the mixing zone, the shock-wave front is deformed and becomes unstable.