Status of knowledge of sonic boom

Numerous sonic boom studies were accomplished in the last two decades as a result of increased operations of high performance military aircraft, the proposed US/SST, and the anticipated entry of the Concorde into commercial airline service. Much in the way of documentation of the phenomena and its effects was suitably summarized by the society in the first and second Sonic Boom Symposiums of 1965 and 1970, respectively. The present decade has seen a continuation of these efforts, both analytically and experimentally by laboratory and flight tests, in areas such as sonic boom minimization through vehicle design, sonic boom behavior at transonic and low supersonic Mach numbers, and the extension of the predictive schemes to very high altitudes and Mach numbers associated with space launch vehicles such as Space Shuttle. More recently, a renewed interest and concerted effort has been directed towards the long range “over-the-top” sonic boom phenomena in the thermosphere in connection with certain “mysterious” noises observed along the east coast. This paper will present an overview, together with a discussion of the latest developments of the sonic boom problem.