Precursor shock waves at a slow—fast gas interface

This paper presents experimental data obtained for the refraction of a plane shock wave at a carbon dioxide–helium interface. The gases were separated initially by a delicate polymer membrane. Both regular and irregular wave systems were studied, and a feature of the latter system was the appearance of bound and free precursor shocks. Agreement between theory and experiment is good for regular systems, but for irregular ones it is sometimes necessary to take into account the effect of the membrane inertia to obtain good agreement. The basis for the analysis of irregular systems is one-dimensional piston theory and Snell's law.