Discovery

Experiments performed to validate a model used to predict the transmission of weak sonic booms into a residential building are discussed in detail. The experimental effort encompassed the construction of a simple structure that retains the essential characteristics of a residential building, the instrumentation of this structure, and the production of a realistic simulated sonic boom with the use of detonating cord. Vibro-acoustic data were collected using the simulated sonic boom as excitation.

As a first step in the development of a model for predicting the noise transmission of sonic booms inside buildings, a numerical solution for the transmission of a shock wave with an arbitrary time history into a rectangular room with a plaster-wood wall is investigated. The dynamics of this fluid-structure system, including their interaction, is computed in the time domain using a modal-interaction method. The formulation of the problem, illustrative numerical results, and a parametric study are presented.

This paper presents a numerical model to predict the vibro-acoustic responses at low frequencies of simplified residential structures exposed to sonic booms. The model is validated experimentally in a companion paper. The dynamics of the fluid-structure system, including their interaction, is computed in the time domain using a modal-decomposition approach. In the dynamic equations of the system, the structural displacement is expressed in terms of summations over the “in vacuo” modes of vibration.