Global visualization and quantification of compressible vortex loops

The physics of compressible vortex loops generated due to the rolling up of the shear layer upon the diffraction of a shock wave from a shock tube is far from being understood, especially when shock-vortex interactions are involved. This is mainly due to the lack of global quantitative data available which characterizes the flow. The present study involves the usage of the PIV technique to characterize the velocity and vorticity of compressible vortex loops formed at incident shock Mach numbers of M=1.54 and 1.66. Another perk of the PIV technique over purely qualitative methods, which has been demonstrated in the current study, is that at the same time the results also provide a clear image of the various flow features. Techniques such as schlieren and shadowgraph rely on density gradients present in the flow and fail to capture regions of the flow influenced by the primary flow structure which would have relatively lower pressure and density. Various vortex loops, namely, square, elliptic and circular, were generated using different shape adaptors fitted to the end of the shock tube. The formation of a coaxial vortex loop with opposite circulation along with the generation of a third stronger vortex loop ahead of the primary with same circulation direction are of the interesting findings of the current study.