The KAUST low pressure shock tube (LPST) is an 18 m long stainless steel tube with an inner diameter of 14.2 cm. This system is designed to reach reflected shock pressures of 1 - 20 bar and temperatures of 500 – 4000 K. The shock tube can be pre-heated to 200 ⁰C with electrical heating jackets.

The tube is composed of two main sections: driver and driven sections separated with a polycarbonate diaphragm. The driven section is 9 m long while the driver section length can be varied from 3 to 9 m. A shock wave is generated when the diaphragm is burst by the difference of pressure between the driver and driven sections. Shock wave velocity is measured using 5 PCB type 113B26 pressure transducers. Absolute value of the dynamic pressure is measured using a Kistler type 603B pressure transducer. Homogeneous test times of 1 – 20 ms can be achieved with long length of the driver section and driver gas tailoring.

• Ignition delays time measurements
• Speciation with laser diagnostics
• Elementary reactions rate measurements
• Soot formation
• Electron density measurements
• High-speed imaging