Head-On Collision of Spherical Shock Waves

Some experimental results are presented of colliding shock waves and the associated spherical flows generated by the blasts from two high-pressure gas spheres. Glass spheres, 2 in. in diam, with their centers located 9 in. apart, containing air or helium up to 500 psi were used to produce the explosions. Instantaneous spark shadowgrams, multi-spark schlieren photographs, and wave-speed schlieren records of the radius-time plane indicate that this method can be used successfully to study such interactions.