Accurate Compressible Flow Modelling of Liquid Shock Tube Problems

Studies and applications related to liquid shocks span over varied areas. This work intends to accurately model different liquid shock tube cases and to investigate the related flow characteristics. The work initially investigates the suitability of different liquid equations of state for modelling the compressible liquid shock tube physics. The shock tube with liquid water as the tube fluid is simulated for cases involving diverse diaphragm pressure ratios. The modified NASG is found to be the most appropriate EoS for modelling liquid water compressibility effects for the related class of flow problems because of its high accuracy and non-isothermal characteristic. The MUSCL-based HLLC algorithm with MC-type slope limiter is the numerical solver chosen for modelling the liquid shock scenarios. A liquid shock tube test case with slightly complex initial setup is also simulated to demonstrate the robustness of the numerical solver. Numerical results for all the liquid shock tube cases modelled showed excellent agreement with the corresponding analytical solutions. The MUSCL-based HLLC numerical solver algorithm along with the modified NASG EoS accurately simulated the compressible liquid shock tube physics for all the different cases considered. The test cases and solutions presented in the work could be used as benchmark results for the validation of numerical solvers.