Characterization of topographic effects on sonic boom reflection by resolution of the Euler equations

Ariane Emmanuelli (1) , Didier Dragna (1) , Sébastien Ollivier (1, 2) , Philippe Blanc-Benon (1)

1 LMFA - Laboratoire de Mecanique des Fluides et d'Acoustique
2 UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1

The influence of topography on sonic boom propagation is investigated. The full two-dimensional Euler equations in curvilinear coordinates are solved using high-order finite-difference time-domain techniques. Simple ground profiles, corresponding to a terrain depression, a hill, and a sinusoidal terrain, are examined for two sonic boom waves: a classical N-wave and a low-boom. Ground reflection of the sonic boom is affected by elevation variations: a concave ground profile induces compression, which tends to increase the peak pressure in particular, while the opposite is true for convex elevation variations, which lead to expansion and a reduction in peak pressure. The reflected boom is then strongly altered. Furthermore, a sufficiently concave topography can cause focal zones, which generate extra contributions at ground level in the form of U-waves in addition to the reflected wave. This mechanism has the largest effect on waveforms at ground level. The variations of standard metrics are of a few dBs compared to a flat ground for both sonic boom waves, and they are notably greater for the terrain depression than for the hill. Finally, in the case of a sinusoidal terrain, the pressure waveforms are composed of multiple arrivals due to successive focal zones.

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Acoustique [physics.class-ph]

Ariane Emmanuelli, Didier Dragna, Sébastien Ollivier, Philippe Blanc-Benon. Characterization of topographic effects on sonic boom reflection by resolution of the Euler equations. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2021, 149 (4), pp.2437-2450. ⟨10.1121/10.0003816⟩. ⟨hal-03240594⟩