Full-Field Three-Dimensional Simulation of Sonic Boom Emanating from Complex Geometries

Abstract

This paper describes full-field direct simulation of sonic boom emanating from complex geometries. Thus far, full-field simulation has only been applied to analysis of axisymmetric geometries. In this work, sonic booms emanating from a delta wing body are analyzed over the entire flow field, extending from the near field around the body to the far field reaching the ground. The three-dimensional Euler equations with a gravitational source term are solved under consideration of a stratified atmosphere, by employing the following four numerical approaches: (i) a hierarchical structured adaptive mesh refinement method, (ii) a ghost fluid method, (iii) a well-balanced finite volume method, and (iv) a segmentation method of the computational domain. A steady level flight of Mach 1.7 at an altitude of 6 km is assumed. Computational results show that three-dimensional shock wave propagation through a stratified atmosphere is accurately captured using the adaptively refined meshes. The near-field waveform agrees well with that in the wind tunnel experiment, and the far-field waveform is also in good agreement with that in the waveform parameter method. These results indicate that full-field simulation is a powerful tool for analyzing sonic booms emanating from three-dimensional aircraft configurations.