Statistical Characterization of Atmospheric Turbulence Behavior Responsible for Sonic Boom Waveform Deformation

Abstract

Atmospheric turbulent profiles were statistically quantified in characteristic scales for time, length, and velocity considered to be responsible for sonic boom waveform deformation in the troposphere. Meteorological data were collected at the Esrange Space Center located in northern Sweden, using towers with balloon-tethered anemometers, radiosondes, and balloon-carried airborne anemometers during the third flight-test campaign of the Drop Test for Simplified Evaluation of Nonsymmetrically Distributed Sonic Boom Project, conducted by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in collaboration with the Swedish Space Corporation. Autocorrelation analysis on temperature and wind speed variations from various meteorological datasets was implemented to evaluate turbulent scales for various atmospheric regions. Results indicated that the turbulent integral length scale was distributed approximately 11–13 m in the surface layer up to a height of 100 m and approximately 40 m in the whole troposphere region including the atmospheric boundary layer. Derived integral length scales were consistent with those found in previous studies, and the scales were successfully correlated with the root mean square velocity through a proposed scaling law using the energy dissipation rate.