A computational analysis of sonic booms penetrating a realistic ocean surface

The last decade has seen a revival of sonic boom research, a direct result of the projected market for a new breed of supersonic passenger aircraft, its design, and its operation. One area of the research involves sonic boom penetration into the ocean, one concern being the possible disturbance of marine mammals from the noise generated by proposed high-speed civil transport (HSCT) flyovers. Although theory is available to predict underwater sound levels due to a sonic boom hitting a homogeneous ocean with a flat surface, theory for a realistic ocean, one with a wavy surface and bubbles near the surface, is missing and will be presented in this paper. First, reviews are given of a computational method to calculate the underwater pressure field and the effects of a simple wavy ocean surface on the impinging sonic boom. Second, effects are described for the implementation of three additional conditions: a sonic boom/ocean "wavelength" comparison, complex ocean surfaces, and bubbles near the ocean surface. Overall, results from the model suggest that the realistic ocean features affect the penetrating proposed HSCT sonic booms by modifying the underwater sound-pressure levels only about 1 decibel or less.