Construction of a Shock Tube Facility

I helped construct a shock-tube facility at the Aerospace Corporation consisting of two single-pulse shock tubes to study gas-phase chemical kinetics and reaction of aerosols at elevated temperatures. My primary responsibility was design of the vacuum system, which enables evacuation of both shock tubes to pressures below 10E-6 torr before experimental runs. Low pressure is critical in shock tube experiments to assure the quality of the test gas in the tubes prior to each firing.

I also performed a literature survey to determine best practices for safe handling of aerosols before and after exposure to shock waves. This research was incorporated into the shock tube apparatus standard operating procedure to prevent researchers from being exposed to unhealthy particulates resulting from experiments.

Fabrication of 2-D Supersonic Nozzle

UC Irvine’s supersonic flow lab needed a pair of two-dimensional supersonic flow nozzle surfaces for a shock-damping experiment. To fabricate the nozzle, we required a high tensile strength, non-corrosive metal such as high-carbon stainless steel or titanium capable of withstand high pressures. It was my responsibility to procure the material and identify a professional job shop capable of electronic discharge machining (EDM). I also converted rough drawings of the nozzle sections into engineering drawings that could be utilized by an EDM machinist to fabricate irregular curves. Ultimately the nozzle was utilized to perform 2-D shock visualization and damping experiments (shown in the middle right panel).