A shock tube based facility for impact testing

Many dynamic testing techniques use gas guns as a pressure generator. The pressure generated from the gas guns is often of low velocity and low energy and has a random or short duration of uniform pressure level. This kind of pressure is not well defined and cannot be converted into other application statuses. With aims at improving experimental capability and expanding research horizon, a shock tube was designed and constructed and innovative applications were explored. With proper adjustments of gas components and gas pressures, welldefined pressure sources could be produced. And, with appropriate designs of force transformer, various testing parameters required for different dynamic experiments could be simulated. In this paper, a piston-like impact test based on the shock tube was demonstrated. The advantages of using the shock tube as a pressure generator were identified