Interdisciplinary tutorial on sonic booms: A “super” sonic saga

This tutorial will provide an introduction to sonic booms, including background, current status of research, and future prospects. Supersonic aircraft generate sonic booms, so the physics of shock propagation through the atmosphere is involved. But those shocks are ultimately heard on the ground indoors and outdoors, both by people and wildlife. Hence, physical acoustics, psychological and physiological acoustics, animal bioacoustics, structural acoustics, vibration, and noise are all involved. Aircraft manufacturers have plans to build new civilian supersonic passenger aircraft, and these new aircraft intend to have sonic booms that are much quieter than those produced by either military aircraft or the now-retired Concorde supersonic airliner. Thus, an additional objective of this tutorial is to provide a quick-start technical basis for ASA members to understand the basics of sonic booms, enabling them to communicate effectively about sonic booms. If the aircraft manufacturers meet their stated goals, millions of people around the world will potentially begin hearing quiet sonic booms in the future. The material is highly interdisciplinary and should be useful both to the curious and to specialists across almost all of the Acoustical Society of America's technical areas. [The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of sponsors of the ASCENT Center of Excellence including the Federal Aviation Administration.] In conjunction with the Tutorial Lecture on sonic booms on Monday evening, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation will be bringing their sonic boom simulator to the Jacksonville, FL meeting. The Supersonic Acoustic Signature Simulator II is a specially equipped mobile audio booth designed to accurately reproduce the noise an observer on the ground would hear if a supersonic aircraft flew by. More specifically, the visitor at the ASA meeting will experience a back-to-back comparison of two radically different synthesized sonic booms. The first sonic boom signature will represent the “traditional” N-wave signature produced by the Concorde. The second sonic boom will represent a shaped signature that is representative of a low-boom aircraft. The intent of this demonstration is to provide the visitor with an opportunity to experience a fully immersive simulation that contains a sophisticated auralization of stimuli that contribute to subjective response caused by a sonic boom. The simulator will only be available on Monday, November 2 (12:00 noon to 7:00 p.m.), and Tuesday, November 3 (9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.), and will be located at Jacksonville Landing, just steps away from the Hyatt Regency. Walking directions will be provided on site via convenient signs. Please come and take advantage of this special opportunity to hear the Supersonic Acoustic Signature Simulator II.