The flexible asymmetric shock tube (FAST): a Ludwieg tube facility for wave propagation measurements in high-temperature vapours of organic fluids

This paper describes the commissioning of the flexible asymmetric shock tube (FAST), a novel Ludwieg tube-type facility designed and built at Delft University of Technology, together with the results of preliminary experiments. The FAST is conceived to measure the velocity of waves propagating in dense vapours of organic fluids, in the so-called non-ideal compressible fluid dynamics (NICFD) regime, and can operate at pressures and temperatures as high as 21 bar and 400 degrees C, respectively. The set-up is equipped with a special fast-opening valve, separating the high-pressure charge tube from the low-pressure plenum. When the valve is opened, a wave propagates into the charge tube. The wave speed is measured using a time-of-flight technique employing four pressure transducers placed at known distances from each other. The first tests led to the following results: (1) the leakage rate of 5 x 10(-4) mbar l s(-1) for subatmospheric and 5 x 10(-2) mbar l s(-1) for a superatmospheric pressure is compatible with the purpose of the conceived experiments, (2) the process start-up time of the valve has been found to be between 2.1 and 9.0 ms, (3) preliminary rarefaction wave experiments in the dense vapour of siloxane D-6 (dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane, an organic fluid) were successfully accomplished up to temperatures of 300 degrees C, and (4) a method for the estimation of the speed of sound from wave propagation experiments is proposed. Results are found to be within 2.1 % of accurate model predictions for various gases. The method is then applied to estimate the speed of sound of D-6 in the NICFD regime.