A sonic boom, or nonlinear wave, is generated by supersonic flight-vehicles within the atmosphere. These reach the ground and can cause damage or annoyance to communities. They are altered by the atmosphere. We are interested in predicting the aerodynamics of the flight-vehicle, the source waveform, the sonic boom during its propagation, and its signal on the ground. This field represents a difficult subject that has been studied for decades. Note that much of this research has been performed with my student, Dr. Alex Carr, who moved to NASA Langley Research Center after his dissertation defense.
Long Range Propagation of Sonic Boom. Source: Alex Carr dissertation.
Turbulent velocity fluctuations generated in the atmospheric boundary layer for conditions of strong convection.
Fast and accurate ray tracing over hundreds of km with various ground effects and turbulent atmospheres. Source: Dr. Tianshu Zhang, Ph.D. and former student.
Prediction at ground using the source cylinder waveform (our near-field prediction). Our prediction algorithm captures shock locations, over-pressures, and duration accurately. Though the consensus prediction has smoother shock profiles, hypersonic sonic boom waveforms likely will not even at very low altitudes (approximately 500 m).
Shaped Booms. Attenuation, rounding, and phase shift. No significant post-boom fluctuations for weak convection Turbulent. scattering not significant for weak convection More important for moderate to strong convection. Source: Dr. Alex Carr dissertation, 2022.
