Project 08 - Sonic Boom Metrics

As demand for long range business travel increases and technologies for efficient supersonic flight mature, a market for small supersonic civil aircraft appears to be forming. Results of recent studies indicate that such aircraft are feasible. However, a major remaining impediment to the operation of such aircraft is the cruise noise signature. Sonic boom noise issues are different from many other aspects of aircraft noise in that the potential annoyance occurs en route, along the flight path rather than just near airports. Maximum utility will require supersonic flight over land, currently prohibited by law. The law was formulated and promulgated at a time before the purposeful shaping of the sonic boom waveform was achievable. The aim of the proposed work is to determine if sufficient new data exists to warrant a reevaluation of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) regulation prohibiting supersonic flight over land. Recent research on shaped sonic booms has indicated low boom designs are possible and result in significantly less objectionable signatures than classic booms of the 1960s-1980s. Several recent studies have investigated designs with initial overpressures of no more than 0.3 lb/ft², in contrast to Concorde's typical 2 lb/ft² N-wave signature -- a dramatic reduction in noise levels. Due to this technological progress and resulting potential commercial and military application for the United States, supersonic aircraft operation and sonic boom signatures should be investigated for low boom designs, and this is the overarching goal of Project 8. This research is expected to lead to the re-evaluation of existing regulations and, possibly, to the development of new regulations to permit operation of commercial supersonic aircraft over both land and water in the United States and worldwide, for the specific case of shaped boom aircraft designs.

• Record URL:
  http://partner.mit.edu/projects/sonic-boom-mitigation
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Program Information: Energy and Environment, Noise Impacts and Mitigation Additional contract numbers: 11098392, 11098276, 11397430

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $290000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  10892841

  1092841

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Aviation Administration

  800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20591
• Project Managers:

  Hileman, James

  Maurice, Lourdes

• Performing Organizations:

  Purdue University, West Lafayette

  610 Purdue Mall
  West Lafayette, IN  United States  47907-2040

  Pennsylvania State University, University Park

  210 Old Main
  University Park, PA  United States  16802-1589
• Principal Investigators:

  Waitz, Ian

• Start Date: 20120510
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• Source Data: RiP Project 30598

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aircraft noise; Design; Metrics (Quantitative assessment); Noise sources; Sonic boom; Supersonic aircraft
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Design; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01572631
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 10892841, 1092841
• Files: RIP
• Created Date: Aug 11 2015 1:00AM