Johansen, Craig T.Quinn, Declan2021-03-052021-03-052021-02-28Quinn, D. (2021). Experimental Visualizations of the Blowdown Transients of Subcooled and Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.http://hdl.handle.net/1880/113134The rapid decompression of sub-cooled and supercritical carbon dioxide was investigated experimentally using schlieren and regular high-speed photography. An optically accessible expansion tube was designed and constructed. A test campaign with initial pressures ranging from 6.45-9.02 MPaA and initial temperatures from 297-308 K was performed. High-speed schlieren imagery was used to visualize the rarefaction waves, evaporation waves, and shocks present in the blowdown process. The time history of pressures at different locations in the experiment was recorded using fast response pressure transducers. Image and pressure signal analyses were performed to extract decompression wave speeds, evaporation wave speeds, and decompression rates. Results were compared to analytical models and other experiments reported in the literature. The sensitivity of pressure undershoot and wave speed to initial conditions was analyzed. A theory explaining the presence of an oscillatory phase change region associated with a shock train is presented.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Carbon DioxideEngineering--Mechanicalmaster thesishttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/38665