To improve the quality of driving ows generated with detonation-driven shock tunnels operated in the forwardrunning mode, various detonation drivers with specially designed sections were examined. Four con gurations of the specially designed section, three with different converging angles and one with a cavity ring, were simulated by solving the Euler equations implemented with a pseudo kinetic reaction model. From the rst three cases, it is observed that the re ection of detonation fronts at the converging wall results in an upstream-traveling shock wave that can increase the ow pressure that has decreased due to expansion waves, which leads to improvement of the driving ow. The con guration with a cavity ring is found to be more promising because the upstream-traveling shock wave appears stronger and the detonation front is less overdriven. Although pressure uctuations due to shock wave focusing and shock wave re ection are observable in these detonation-drivers, they attenuate very rapidly to an acceptable level as the detonation wave propagates downstream. Based on the numerical observations, a new detonation-driven shock tunnel with a cavity ring is designed and installed for experimental investigation. Experimental results con rm the conclusion drawn from numerical simulations. The generated driving ow in this shock tunnel could maintain uniformity for as long as 4 ms. Feasibility of the proposed detonation driver for high-enthalpy shock tunnels is well demonstrated. NomenclatureD CJ = Chapman-Jouguet (C-J) detonation velocity e = total energy per mass= molecular weight of the reactant m 2 = molecular weight of the product P CJ = C-J detonation pressure P i = initial pressure in driver section P ignit = ignition pressure P 0 = initial pressure in driven section p = pressure Q = reaction heat per mass S, H = source terms= mass fraction of the reactant Z 2 = mass fraction of the product ®,¯, Adet = tuned constants of reaction model°= effective adiabatic exponent°1 = adiabatic exponent of the reactant°2 = adiabatic exponent of the product 1s = local mesh size