The paper discusses the effect of sonic boom overpressure limits on the design and performance of a supersonic transport. Possible methods of reducing the sonic boom by configuration tailoring and the effect of this on performance are described. The sonic boom overpressure produced by an airplane is influenced by contributions of the volume and lift of the configuration, the structure of the atmosphere, and the flight path of the airplane. Establishment of maximum overpressure levels may impose serious design and operation restrictions on the airplane, resulting in a compromised configuration which does not operate efficiently. It is possible to control the shock wave strength by careful design of the configuration so as to employ favorable interactions between the lift and volume contributions. However, care must be taken not to compromise other design features of the airplane, such as its drag, in order to obtain lower sonic boom overpressures. (Author)
Effect of Sonic Boom on Supersonic Transport Design and Performance
1964
17 pages
Report
No indication
English
The Supersonic Transport: The Sonic Boom and You
NTIS | 1967
|Aerodynamic/Sonic Boom Performance Evaluation of Innovative Supersonic Transport Configurations
Online Contents | 2016
|