EAGER: The Feasibility of Simulating of Weak Volcanic Shockwaves with Analog Modeling

有关火山喷口条件的信息可以从对大气冲击波的观测中提取出来。更好地了解产生冲击波的爆发现象以及对火山形状和喷发性质的依赖，可能导致获得有关喷发强度的信息以及产生浮力预测气体/火山灰羽流扩散模型所需的初始条件的新方法。这个急切的项目是一项为期一年的可行性研究，将使用一种独特的激波管设备对火山爆炸进行实验模拟。使用大气冲击波传播来测量爆炸功率和喷发温度是新的，未经测试。如果成功，大气冲击波传播有可能从根本上提高测量爆炸威力的准确性。在项目结束时，我们预计能够最终解决人们对激波管实验扩大火山爆炸规模的可行性的关切。发展的理论将能够更准确地预测大气冲击波传播产生的爆炸威力。这项拟议的研究是跨学科的，代表了密歇根理工大学地球物理学和机械工程之间的新合作。它包括博士后研究人员建立其职业生涯的一个重要机会。该项目将解决一个高风险领域：通过激波管实验扩大火山喷发规模的可行性。

Information about conditions at a volcano vent can be extracted from observations of atmospheric shock waves. An improved understanding of the burst phenomena that generate shock waves and the dependence upon volcano shape and eruption properties may lead to new methods to access information on the eruption intensity as well as generate the initial conditions required in a buoyancy predictive models of the gas/ash plume dispersion. This EaGER project is a one-year feasibility study that will investigate experimental simulation of a volcanic explosion using a unique shock tube apparatus.Use of atmospheric shock propagation to gauge explosive power and eruption temperature is new and untested. If successful, atmospheric shock propagation has the potential to radically improve the accuracy of measuring explosive power. At the conclusion of the project we anticipate being able to definitively address concerns regarding the feasibility of a shock tube experiment to scale volcanic explosions. The theory developed will enable more precise prediction of explosive power derived from atmospheric shock wave propagation. The proposed research is interdisciplinary and represents a new collaboration between geophysics and mechanical engineering at Michigan Tech. It includes an important opportunity for the postdoctoral investigator to establish his career. The project will address an area of high risk: the feasibility of scaling volcanic eruption with a shock tube experiment.