Two Supersonic Business Aircraft Conceptual Designs, With and Without Sonic Boom Constraint

摘要

A pair of supersonic business jet conceptual designs has been developed to assess the impact of designing for reduced sonic boom. One aircraft was designed without a sonic boom constraint. The other was limited to an initial sonic boom overpressure of 0.4 lb/ft~2. All other design requirements were the same. Sonic boom mitigation places a requirement on the buildup of lift and volume along the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, with any excess or shortfall adversely impacting the sonic boom. Methods were developed for incorporating this requirement into the conceptual design process. Both the method for incorporating the boom constraint in the design process and the result, a side-by-side comparison of one low-boom and one unconstrained aircraft with substantially identical performance in all other respects, are considered significant. The boom-constrained aircraft was approximately 25% longer with 18% higher takeoff gross weight than the unconstrained aircraft.