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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 April 2006
Attenuation of a plane shock due to the interaction with a single slit is examined via spark schlieren photography for shock Mach numbers between 1·17 and 2·44 and slit widths between 0·173 and 3·175 cm. Wave speed measurements by piezoelectric transducers indicate that the attenuation is weak and adequately predicted by Whitham's ray-shock theory. The slit width is observed to produce only a secondary effect on the shock attenuation rate. Stability of the attenuating shock is demonstrated from a wave diagram constructed by the ray-shock technique.