When the cork pops on a bottle of champagne, the physics is akin to that of a missile launch in more ways than one. In this study, researchers used computational Keep reading
Tag: expansion fan
Bottle Rocket Shock Diamonds
Mach diamonds or shock diamonds can often be seen in the exhaust of rocket engines. Here they’re shown in high-speed video of a bottle rocket’s launch. The rocket’s exhaust exits Keep reading
Shock Diamonds
Rocket engine exhaust often contains a distinctive pattern known as shock diamonds or Mach diamonds. These are a series of shock waves and expansion fans that increase and decrease, respectively, Keep reading
Shock Waves in Flight
Schlieren optical systems have been used to visualize shock waves in labs for more than a century, but the technique did not translate well to photographing shock structures outside the Keep reading
Shock Trains
In compressible flows, shock waves are singularities, a tiny distance across which the density, temperature, and pressure of a fluid change suddenly and discontinuously. In this video, there is a Keep reading
SpaceShipTwo Lights It Up
Monday morning Virgin Galactic and their partners at Scaled Composites reached a new milestone in their commercial sub-orbital spaceflight program, firing SpaceShipTwo’s main engine for the first time and accelerating Keep reading
Bottle Rocket Shock Waves
This high speed video shows schlieren photography of a bottle rocket’s exhaust. The supersonic CO2 leaving the nozzle is underexpanded, meaning its pressure is still higher than the ambient atmosphere. Keep reading
Vapor Cone
This stunning National Geographic photo contest winner shows an F-15 banking at an airshow and a array of great fluid dynamics. A vapor cloud has formed over the wings of Keep reading
Rocket Engine Test
[original media no longer available] In this static test of XCOR Aerospace’s Lynx rocket engine, Mach diamonds (shown at the top of the frame) are visible in the rocket exhaust. Keep reading
Rocket Engine Testing
Rocket engine tests usually feature a distinct and steady pattern of Mach diamonds in their exhaust. This series of reflected shock waves and expansion fans forms as a result of Keep reading