shock tube

noun

: a usually enclosed tube in which experimental shock waves are produced as a result of the rupturing of a diaphragm separating two chambers containing a gas or gases at differential pressure

Examples of shock tube in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The valve does not seal against the shock tube but rather allows fluid to flow through a passage in the shock rod, bypassing the main piston valve. —Tony Quiroga, Car and Driver, 18 Aug. 2022

To test this theory, the scientists created a series of controlled chemical blasts in a five-foot-long, two-inch-wide tube called a turbulent shock tube to understand more about how explosions spontaneously ignite. —Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 4 Nov. 2019

Lance and a few members from her lab used blast simulation devices known as shock tubes to test the Tiny’s pressure gauges and other equipment in advance of the live explosives phase of the experiment. —Evan Lubofsky, Smithsonian, 23 Aug. 2017

Word History

First Known Use

1949, in the meaning defined above