Recent Developments in Sonic-Boom Simulation Using Shock Tubes
Gasdynamic and acoustic analyses were performed in order to provide greater insight into the operation of sonic-boom simulators utilizing shock-tube drivers. Three basic shock tubes were considered; each had a pyramidal driver joined at the diaphragm station to a pyramidal channel of the same divergence angle (pyramidal shock tube), or of a different angle, or joined to a constant-area channel. Classical acoustic theory was applied to obtain new analytical solutions to describe the wave motion in such facilities, in agreement with experimental data. In addition, a detailed study of the nonlinear generation and propagation features of the N wave was made for the important and practical case of the pyramidal shock tube. The work described above is of current interest as shock-tube-type facilities are in present use in France, Germany, England, the United States, and Canada to assess societal problems associated with sonic boom.