An experimental investigation of the propagation of weak shock waves through a random medium

This paper describes an experiment in which weak shock waves scatter from random density fluctuations in a classical scattering configuration. A 27 cm cube of randomly inhomogeneous gas is created inside the GALCIT 17-inch diameter shock tube by incompletely mixing helium and Freon-12. The statistical properties of the scattering medium are determined in the absence of a shock wave, and the wave field can be characterized before, during and after the interaction process. For any given realization of the random field, the effect of the medium on the shock is most pronounced for the weakest waves, and the effect of shock on the scattering medium is most significant for the Ms = 1.1 waves.