Shock-tube chemistry. I - The laminar-to-turbulent boundary layer transition

A model is proposed for calculating laminar-turbulent transition in the boundary layer of flows in chemical shock tubes. It is shown that the time to turbulent transition may be treated as the time required by the shocked gas to move over one shock-tube diameter. The model is shown to provide a means of predicting the turbulent transition time in any shock tube experiment, provided the condition of limiting flow is met. Knowing the transition time, it becomes possible to obtain the density and temperature profiles and, hence, to determine precisely the effect of shock tube boundary layers on the measurement of chemical rate constants.