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Extremely
Multi-disciplinary Enterprise
The
Institute for Shock
Physics is a multidisciplinary research organization within the College of Sciences. Its
faculty
disciplines include both the physical sciences and engineering.
Students from
various academic departments carry out research projects for M.S.
and/or Ph.D.
degrees at the Institute. Although the majority of the students have
been
affiliated with the Department
of Physics,
students from other departments, such as Chemistry
and the School of
Mechanical and Materials
Engineering, also participate in shock wave research.
What is shock wave
science?
Shock
physics is a
field aimed toward studying the effects on a given object under
intense,
immediate pressure. For example, when a meteor slams into a
hillside, our
scientists would be interested on what changed due to the extreme
conditions
caused by that specific shock wave.
"Shock physics, or shock wave research, involves
understanding the
physical and chemical changes in solids and liquids under
very
rapid
and large compressions, and applying this to fundamental
and
applied
problems of interest." ~Y.M. Gupta
"Shock Waves." The
Encyclopedia of Physics. 3rd edition.
Editor Robert M. Besancon. New York: Van
Nostrand
Reinhold Co., 1985. p. 1109-1115.
Characteristics
of Shock Wave Compression:
- Considerable
pressures: 1,000 to 2,500,000 atmostpheres (a typical tire pressure is
around 2 atmospheres).
- Extremely short time
scales: Experimental time durations range from 10-5 to 10-8 seconds with time
resolution as high as 10-10 seconds (in other
terms, 0.0000000001 of a second). Often our scientists deal with
measurements on the nanosecond and picosecond time scales--one
billionth and one trillionth of a second, respectively.
- Dramatic temperature
changes: The temperature rise when a material is being shock
compressed can be very mild--only a few degrees, or very
substantial--several hundred degrees, depending on what material is
being loaded and the experimentation conducted (i.e. if it receives a
single shock wave, multiple shock waves, or a ramp wave).
- Enormous pressures
like those listed above result in profound physical and chemical
changes such as volume alteration (sometimes up to 20%), cracking or
shattering, chemical reactions and reorganization, and phase changes
(i.e. liquid to solid).
Application
of our
Research
Dynamic high pressures exist in many natural and man-made
environments.
For example, naturally occurring high pressure phenomena are
astrological
impacts (meteors, asteroids, supernovas, etc.) and geophysical activity
(state
of matter in planetary inner and outer crusts and cores).
Examples of
man-made high pressures include defense related applications (studies
for improved
armor and understanding detonations for safety and better energetics),
aeronautics applications (micro or macro impacts involving spacecraft
and
aircraft), and automotive applications (strength of materials studies
for safer
vehicles). Several indirect applications include soil contaminant
remediation (superfund clean-up sites) and semiconductive research (for
understanding the strains in very small layered devices used in all
electronics
and optoelectronics). Our data output and experimentation
contributes to
many fields of research. We strive to present a strong national
resource
by exploring the unanswered questions we have regarding shock
compression.
More
Information
Shock Wave Experiments
Novel Experimental Developments
Static Pressure Experiments
Computational Research
Publications
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