Three hundred of the world's leading space engineers and medical researchers will attend the 21st International Symposium on Shock Waves from July 20 to July 25 at Great Keppel Island.
The symposium is being co-hosted by the University of Queensland, Australian National University and the University of New South Wales.
Symposium organising committee chair Dr Allan Paull of the University of Queensland's Mechanical Engineering Department said it was the first time the biennial event would be held in Queensland and only the second time in Australia.
Shock waves are surfaces of discontinuity in which the fluid properties changes abruptly from subsonic to supersonic. They have application in such fields as medicine, for example in breaking kidney stones, and in space research.
The University of Queensland is an international leader in the field of shock tubes, devices which generate high speed flows of air over short periods of time by the passage of shock waves down a tube. The devices are used to simulate space vehicle re-entry conditions.
University researchers are currently building the world's fastest shock tunnel, the X3, designed to reach speeds of 15km/second or Mach 45 - 45 times the speed of sound. The new tunnel anticipates current plans for human exploration of Mars, calling for entry into a carbon dioxide-dominated atmosphere at speeds of up to 16km/second.
The University is also upgrading its T4 shock tunnel, which undertakes complete testing of scramjet engine capability in space vehicle conditions. Hide Tanno, a researcher working with the world's latest shock tunnel, NAL Kakuda which came onstream in Japan this month, is currently visiting the University of Queensland to increase his knowledge of shock tunnels and to join in experiments.
The symposium will be followed by workshops at the University of Queensland on July 28 and July 29, and at ANU on July 31 and August 1.
For further information, contact Dr Paull, mobile telephone 015 338 316 email: allan@sun.mech.uq.edu.au.
Internet conference site: http://www.uq.edu.au/issw21/
