Bart Lipkens
MacroSonix, 1054 Technology Park Dr., Glen Allen, VA 23060
Model experiments are successful in simulating the propagation of sonic
booms through the atmospheric turbulent boundary layer. In the model experiment
spark-produced N waves propagate across the turbulent flow field of a plane
jet. The N waves are measured by a wide band condenser microphone and the
turbulence is measured by hot-wire anemometry. The results from the model
experiment, pressure waveforms and turbulence characteristics, are used to test
various sonic-boom models for propagation through turbulence. Both waveform
distortion models and rise time prediction models are tested. Only Pierce's
model [A. D. Pierce,