Experimental Study on Interaction between Nanosecond Pulsed Laser and Normal Shock Wave

Nanosecond pulsed lasers possess two remarkable advantages: a high peak power density and the ability to break down air to form plasma readily. Therefore, they have significant practical value in the drag reduction of a supersonic body. An experimental investigation is conducted on the fundamental physical phenomenon of the interaction of the pulsed laser plasma with a normal shock wave to reveal the mechanism of drag reduction. Moreover, a high-precision schlieren system is developed to measure complex wave structures with a time resolution of up to 30 ns and a spatial resolution up to 1 mm. A high-speed particle image velocimetry system is set up to measure the velocity and vorticity of the flow field quantitatively; the system has a time resolution of up to 500 ns. The characteristics of the spherical shock wave and the high-temperature and low-density region induced by the laser plasma are presented. The flow characteristics and evolution process of the laser plasma under a normal shock wave are substantially revealed. The cause of the supersonic drag reduction by the pulsed laser plasma is illustrated with numerical simulation results. The following results are obtained in this study: the initial Mach number of the shock wave induced by the laser plasma increases with the laser energy, and the shape of the wave gradually evolves from a droplet shape to a spherical shape. The propagation velocity decreases with time and is close to the sound velocity after 50 μs. The shape of the initial high-temperature and low-density region is approximately spherical; it subsequently destabilizes to form a sharp spike structure in the laser’s incident direction. Ultimately, the region evolves into a double-vortex ring structure with upper and lower symmetry; the size of this region increases with the laser energy.