Dr. Kimberly Riegel

Boom or Bust? The Quest for Quiet Supersonic Flight

The return of commercial supersonic flight presents both new opportunities and significant challenges, particularly in addressing the noise produced by aircraft traveling faster than the speed of sound. This talk will introduce the physics and history of sonic booms, from the formation of shock waves to the regulations that have restricted civilian supersonic flight over the United States for more than 50 years. With these regulations now being reconsidered, understanding how sonic booms travel through the atmosphere and affect communities has taken on renewed importance.

The talk will discuss my research on how sonic booms change as they travel through the atmosphere and interact with the environment. This includes investigations of how buildings and other structures influence sonic boom noise in urban areas and impacts of the atmosphere on the sound propagation.  In particular special propagation cases resulting in Mach cutoff, a phenomenon in which atmospheric conditions bend the sound upward so that the primary sonic boom does not reach the ground, and secondary sonic booms, which follow longer paths through the upper atmosphere before returning to the surface. These studies provide insight into the complex relationship between aircraft, the atmosphere, and the communities that may experience the sounds of future supersonic flight.

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