Prediction of geometry of sonic boom waves incident on arbitrarily oriented plane walls

Two analytical methods were developed for computing the arrival time of incident and ground-reflected waves of a sonic boom acting on any given exterior wall which is exposed to the unobstructed shock wave. Method I assumed a linearly-varying speed of sound up to the tropopause and constant speed of sound above the tropopause and was considered to be the more exact method; however, it was complex and required an iterative solution for the flight altitudes above the tropopause. Method II modified method I with a simplified assumption that the ray angles in the lateral direction from the flight path were constant; the results obtained by this method compared well with the results of method I. The validity of both these methods was checked with the flight test data from the sonic boom tests conducted at Edwards Air Force Base.