  This paper describes the development and characterization of modular,
oxy-acetylene driven laboratory scale shock tubes. Such tools are needed to
produce realistic blast waves in a laboratory setting. The pressure-time
profiles measured at 1 MHz using high speed piezoelectric pressure sensors have
relevant durations and show a true shock front and exponential decay
characteristic of free-field blast waves. Descriptions are included for shock
tube diameters of 27 - 79 mm. A range of peak pressures from 204 kPa to 1187
kPa (with 0.5 - 5.6% standard error of the mean) were produced by selection of
the driver section diameter and distance from the shock tube opening. The peak
pressures varied predictably with distance from the shock tube opening while
maintaining both a true blast wave profile and relevant pulse duration for
distances up to about one diameter from the shock tube opening. This shock tube
design provides a more realistic blast profile than current compression-driven
shock tubes, and it does not have a large jet effect. In addition, operation
does not require specialized personnel or facilities like most blast-driven
shock tubes, which reduces operating costs and effort and permits greater
throughput and accessibility. It is expected to be useful in assessing the
response of various sensors to shock wave loading; assessing the reflection,
transmission, and absorption properties of candidate armor materials; assessing
material properties at high rates of loading; assessing the response of
biological materials to shock wave exposure; and providing a means to validate
numerical models of the interaction of shock waves with structures. All of
these activities have been difficult to pursue in a laboratory setting due in
part to lack of appropriate means to produce a realistic blast loading profile.
