Nonlinear propagation of spark-generated N-waves in atmosphere: theoretical and experimental assessment of the shock front structure

Abstract

Extensive outdoor and laboratory-scale experiments on sonic boom propagation in turbulent atmosphere have shown that shock wave amplitude and rise time are important parameters responsible for sonic boom annoyance. However, accurate measurement of the shock front structure with standard microphone remains a challenge due to the broadband spectrum of the N-wave shock front. In this work the experimental setup utilizing a spark source has been designed and built to investigate nonlinear N-wave propagation in homogeneous medium. Short duration (30μs) and high amplitude (1 kPa) spherically divergent N-waves were generated. In addition to acoustic measurements with 1/8" B&K microphones, the shadowgraphy method using short duration flash lamp (20 ns) and CCD camera was employed to assess the shock front structure at different distances from the spark. It is shown that the shock rise time measured by the shadowgraphy method was in a good agreement with the theoretical predictions and it was 10 times shorter than in microphone measurements. The widening of the shock in acoustic measurements was therefore due to the limited bandwidth of the microphone. The combination of modeling, acoustic and optical measurements provided an accurate calibration of the shock wave measuring system. [Work supported by RFBR and INTAS.]