SONIC BOOM PREDICTION: A NEW EMPIRICAL FORMULATION AND ANIMATED GRAPHICAL MODEL

Sonic booms are a barrier to progress in supersonic flight due to their harmful effect on humans, animals, and structures. This research developed a new empirical formulation for prediction of the magnitude of a sonic boom using a linear regression on a database of measurements of the sonic booms created by military aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base. This formulation employs a new form of the F function, based on prior theoretical work, that characterizes the effects of shape, lift, and speed on the sonic boom and also includes a new expression for lateral sonic boom prediction. The formulation's accuracy is within the resolution capability of the human ear. The entire method was incorporated into a user-friendly Matlab^® Graphical User Interface that predicts the magnitude of the sonic boom and creates an animated graphical model of the shock wave and sonic boom footprint. This can be used to easily test new low-boom supersonic transport designs, determine the environmental impact of a supersonic flight, and educate the public about sonic booms.