Explore the vast range of titles available.

This study aimed to quantify, in situations representative of the daily life of European citizens, the effects of sonic boom exposure on human responses, in the case of a new generation of supersonic commercial aircraft that should emit a reduced (compared to the past generation like Concorde) but perceivable boom while flying overland. Two reduced boom simulators were affixed to the bedrooms’ windows of a house located on our university campus. The simulators were used to study indoor the participants’ responses to realistic “outdoor” booms. Testing took place in both the living room and kitchen because the booms caused different intensities of rattle noise in those two rooms. Participants performed various tasks (communication, working memory, drawing, valence evaluation), took three mandatory rests and filled in various questionnaires about the annoyance caused by the booms and their mood. This paper focuses on the psychophysical and cognitive performance results. The booms resulted in delayed responses in the working memory task and in the valence evaluation task, and in a momentary slowing down in the drawing task. There was no significant effect in the communication task, even though a trend for a worsening of communication efficiency was observed. Taken together, the results suggest that reduced booms can interfere with cognitive and motor tasks by capturing attention, which can momentarily divert cognitive resources away from the task at hand. These results suggest future research directions and may lead to recommendations for future sonic boom regulations.

Full-field direct simulation of sonic boom has only been applied to the analysis of axisymmetric geometries. In this work, a more realistic analysis of complex geometries over buildings is achieved by employing a combination of the following four numerical approaches: (i) a hierarchical structured adaptive mesh refinement method, (ii) a ghost fluid method for incorporating the immersed boundary conditions on the solid–fluid interfaces, (iii) a well-balanced finite volume method to allow stable stratification of the atmosphere, and (iv) a segmentation method of the computational domain to increase the efficiency of the computations. The three-dimensional Euler equations with a gravitational source term are solved over a stratified atmosphere. The simulation is split into two stages. Firstly, the entire flow field that involves a delta wing body is solved without buildings. Thereafter, the flow behaviors near the ground are recomputed considering rectangular and L-type buildings. Computational results show that the near- and far-fields waveforms are comparable to those from the wind tunnel experiment and the waveform parameter method, respectively. The waveform shape behind the shock waves is spiked due to the diffracted waves around buildings, with the spiking effect in L-type buildings being stronger than that in rectangular buildings. The pressure rises for rectangular and L-type buildings are significantly amplified due to double and triple reflections, respectively, each with an amplification factor comparable to the theoretical value. These results indicate that full-field simulation is promising for analyzing three-dimensional characteristics of sonic boom emanating from complex geometries passing over buildings.

This paper evaluates six supersonic business jet (SSBJ) concepts in a multidisciplinary design analysis optimisation (MDAO) environment in terms of their aerodynamics and sonic boom intensities. The aerodynamic analysis and sonic boom prediction are investigated by a number of conceptual-level numerical approaches. The panel method PANAIR is integrated to perform automated aerodynamic analysis. The drag coefficient is corrected by the Harris wave drag formula and form factor method. For sonic boom prediction, the near-field pressure is predicted through the Whitham F-function method. The F-function is decomposed to the F-function due to volume and the F-function due to lift to investigate the separate effect on sonic boom. The propagation method for the near-field signature in a stratified windy atmosphere is the waveform parameter method. In this research, using the methods described and publically available data on the concepts, the supersonic drag elements and sonic boom signature due to volume distribution and lift distribution are analysed. Based on the analysis, low-boom and low-drag design principles are identified.

Over the past two decades, there has been a renewed interest in the development of a new generation of supersonic aircraft for civil purposes that could potentially succeed Concorde. However, the noise annoyance is still considered one of the hampering factors to meet public consensus. This paper aims at revealing the potential of numerical simulations to predict sonic boom signature in Near Field at early design stages. In particular, the paper further demonstrates the applicability of the numerical approach proposed by NASA and other partners during the Sonic Boom Prediction Workshops held between 2014 and 2021, to compute the pressure signature of aircraft in the zone close to it. The results highlight the suitability of the approach (1) to capture the impact of aircraft flight condition variations on the sonic boom signature, (2) to enable the characterization of novel aircraft layout, including Mach 5 waverider configuration, (3) to provide near-field shock wave noise predictions that can be used to evaluate shock propagation, on-ground signature analyses, and annoyance assessment.

A method is proposed for quickly estimating the sonic boom characteristics from supersonic passenger aircraft under standard atmospheric conditions. The piecewise linear temperature profile and absence of atmospheric wind make it possible to completely reduce the problem of the geometry of sonic boom wave propagation to an algebraic form. For acoustic pressure, an analytical solution is formulated using the nonlinear geometrical acoustics approach. The dependence of the geometry of sonic boom wave propagation on the cruising flight parameters of a supersonic passenger aircraft is analyzed. Under the conditions of SBPW (Sonic Boom Prediction Workshop) 2020, the overpressure signatures on the ground from the X-59 demonstrator were calculated.

The reduction of sonic boom levels is the main challenge but also the key factor to start a new era of supersonic commercial flights. Since 1970, a FAA regulation has banned supersonic flights overland for unacceptable sonic booms at the ground, and many research studies have been carried out from that date to understand sonic boom generation, propagation and effects, both on the environment and communities. Minimization techniques have also been developed with the attempt to reduce sonic boom annoyance to acceptable levels. In the last 20 years, the advances in both knowledge and technologies, and companies and institutions’ significant investments have again raised the interest in the development of new methods and tools for the design of low boom supersonic aircraft. The exploration of unconventional configurations and exotic solutions and systems seems to be needed to effectively reduce sonic boom and allow supersonic flight everywhere. This review provides a description of all aspects of the sonic boom phenomenon related to the design of the next generation of supersonic aircraft. In particular, a critical review of the prediction and minimization methods found in the literature, aimed at identifying their strengths, limitations and gaps, is made, along with a complete overview of disruptive unconventional aircraft configurations and exotic active/passive solutions to boom level reduction. The aim of the work is to give a clear statement of state-of-the-art sonic boom prediction methods and possible reduction solutions to be explored for the design of next low-boom supersonic aircraft.

In this study, two-dimensional airfoil shapes obtained in aerodynamic optimizations are converted to three-dimensional wing models and then their aerodynamic and sonic boom performance are evaluated. The airfoil shapes analyzed are the diamond, Busemann, new supersonic biplane (NSB), and triplane airfoil configurations. The NSB is a modified version of the Busemann biplane airfoil proposed in previous studies. The triplane airfoil configuration is obtained in this study by maximizing the lift-to-drag ratio using an aerodynamic topology optimization method. Based on the obtained two-dimensional airfoil shapes, three-dimensional multiple (biplane/triplane) wing configurations are designed. The aerodynamic and sonic boom performance of these configurations is evaluated in detail through three-dimensional flow analyses as well as acoustic propagation analyses. The aerodynamic superiority of the multiple wing configurations is confirmed in this study.

The most convenient model describing the propagation of a sonic boom wave in the atmosphere is the augmented Burgers equation. In this work, we studied the influence of a numerical scheme on the result of solving an equation that takes into account the nonlinear nature of the propagation of sonic boom waves in the atmosphere. This equation is a key component of the augmented Burgers equation and determines the nature of the transformation of the disturbed pressure profile during its propagation. Two numerical schemes were used for solving: CABARET and WENO—quasi-monotonic end-to-end computing schemes, which make it possible to obtain a solution without significant numerical oscillations. The applicability of these schemes for solving the problem under consideration is analyzed.

The Matching Chart is a well-established tool in conceptual and preliminary aircraft design, providing a graphical representation of performance requirements based on wing loading (W/S) and thrust-to-weight ratio (T/W). It helps define a feasible design space while estimating key parameters such as thrust, maximum takeoff weight, and wing area. This paper presents a new numerical approach aimed at incorporating constraints related to sonic boom generated by supersonic aircraft in flight within the Matching Chart. The sonic boom constraint is derived from high-fidelity CFD simulations on similar case studies and atmospheric propagation models within a non-uniform atmosphere. The methodology is evaluated on an 80-passenger, Mach 1.5 aircraft, a configuration aligned with recent industry research. By integrating environmental and regulatory factors, this work enhances the Matching Chart’s applicability to enable more sustainable future supersonic aircraft design.

This study presents a surrogate modeling framework designed for the rapid yet reliable assessment of sonic boom impacts. The methodology is demonstrated through two case studies: a transatlantic flight from Milan to New York, highlighting the sonic boom impact along the route; and a representative supersonic overflight of Italy, quantifying the population exposure to varying noise levels. Aerodynamic numerical simulations were carried out using an open-source code to capture near-field pressure signatures at three critical mission points. These signatures were used to compute the Whitham F-functions, which were then propagated through a homogeneous atmosphere to the ground using the Whitham equal area rule. The resulting N-waves enabled the computation of aircraft shape factors, which were employed in a regression model to predict the sonic boom characteristics across the full mission profile. Finally, the integration of noise metrics and geographical information system software provided the evaluation of environmental impact and population noise exposure.