Field experiment on vibration and acoustic responses of building to sonic booms using impulsive sound source.

Abstract

Annoyance related to sonic boom is believed to be enhanced in indoor spaces by vibration of building walls, window rattles, room acoustic effects, and so forth. For investigating such vibration and acoustic effects of sonic booms in buildings, both laboratory and field experiments have been conducted. Although propagation of sonic booms in space and relative phenomena such as diffraction around a building can be reproduced in field experiments, it is sometimes not straightforward to generate sounds similar to sonic booms in open space. In this study, an easy-to-handle, portable device suitable for simulating sonic booms in field experiments is developed. A device developed by some of the authors to generate impulsive sound with fair level of infrasonic components by using compressed air is modified to simulate the negative overpressure of sonic booms. The improved device is used in a field experiment to investigate vibration and acoustic responses of a small house. Results of this preliminary experiment will be reported.