A Deterministic Model of Sonic Boom Propagation Through a Turbulent Atmosphere

Abstract : The propagation of a weak normal shock wave through a turbulent atmosphere is studied in terms of an idealized model. The turbulent field is assumed to be weak and represented by the superposition of two inclined shear waves of opposite inclination to the mean flow. The resulting flow is of a cellular nature. The cells are rectangular in shape and the sense of rotation of the flow alternates from cell to cell. If the angles made by the normal of the incident shear waves with the direction of the mean flow are greater than some critical value an exponentially decaying pressure wave is generated behind the shock. 'Spiked' or rounded' waveforms are obtained by adding or subtracting this pressure wave from the steady state pressure field. An illustrative example for a mean flow Mach number of 1.0005 is considered. (Author)