Water Droplet Breakup in a Hypersonic Shock Environment

The breakup mechanisms of droplets impacted by a shock wave have been attributed to surface tension effects. This study investigates the hypersonic breakup patterns of water droplets utilizing diffusive backlit imaging and luminescence detection. Shock waves of Mach 4.2 - 5.7 were produced in Helium-air and Helium-Nitrogen environments to impact injected droplets. The water droplets ranged from 1-3mm in diameter and different concentrations: distilled, degassed distilled, and doped distilled water. High-speed images and photomultiplier tube voltage plots are used to comparatively explore the deformation patterns and breakup behavior.