Numerical Model of Sonic Boom in 3D Kinematic Turbulence

Sonic boom is one of the key issues to be considered in the development of future supersonic or hypersonic civil aircraft concepts. The classical sonic boom, typical for Concorde with an N-wave shape and a ground amplitude of the order of 100 Pa, prevents overland flight. Future concepts target carefully shaped sonic booms with low amplitude weak shocks. However, sonic boom when perceived at the ground level is influenced not only by the aircraft characteristics, but also by atmospheric propagation. In particular, the effect of atmospheric turbulence on sonic boom propagation near the ground is not well characterized. Flight tests performed as early as the 1960s demonstrated that classical sonic booms are sensitive to atmospheric turbulence. However, this sensitivity remains only partially understood. This is related to the fact that i) turbulence is a random process that requires a statistical approach, ii) standard methods used to predict sonic booms, mainly geometrical acoustics based on ray tracing, are inadequate within the turbulent planetary boundary layer. Moreover, the ray theory fails to predict the acoustical field in many areas of interest, such as caustics or shadow zones. These zones are of major interest for sonic boom acceptability (highest levels, lateral extent of zone of impact). These limitations outline the need for a numerical approach that is sufficiently efficient to perform a large number of realizations for a statistical approach, but that goes beyond the limitations of ray theory. With this in view, a 3D one-way numerical method solving a nonlinear scalar wave equation established for heterogeneous, moving and absorbing atmosphere, is used to assess the effects of a 3D kinematic turbulence on sonic boom in various configurations. First, a plane N-wave is propagated in the free field through random realizations of kinematic fluctuations. Then the case of a more realistic Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) is investigated, with a mean stratified wind superimposed to a 3D random turbulent realization. Propagation is performed either in the case of a shadow zone or of an atmospheric waveguide. To model the turbulent ABL, the mean flow and the fluctuations are handled separately. The wind fluctuations are generated using the Random Fluctuations Generation method assuming a von Karman spectrum and a homogeneous and isotropic turbulence. The mean stratified wind is modeled based on the Monin-Obhukov Similarity Theory (MOST). To illustrate the method, the typical case of a sunny day with a strong wind has been chosen. Statistics are obtained on several parameters. It shows the importance of turbulence, which leads to an increase of the mean maximum peak pressure in the shadow zone and to its decrease in the waveguide. Moreover, the formation of random caustics that can lead to an increase of the noise perceived locally is outlined.