Reddy Tube Driven Table-Top Hypersonic Shock Tunnel

Abstract

A table-top hypersonic shock tunnel driven by a manually operated shock tube of 29 mm diameter, named Reddy tube, is presented. The shock tunnel is capable of generating hypersonic flow of freestream Mach number 5.5 with a test time of 600 microseconds. Measurement of heat transfer rates for a small model is described. The measured stagnation point heat transfer rates of ~10 W/cm2 match with the theoretically estimated values within the experimental errors. The simple table-top hypersonic shock tunnel presented here is ideally suited for the class room experiments in the hypersonic aerodynamics course.