NASA Captures Unprecedented Images of Supersonic Shockwaves (phys.org)

As NASA looks into developing planes that can fly faster than sound without creating "sonic booms," the space agency has captured unprecedented photos of the interaction of shockwaves from two supersonic aircraft. Phys.Org reports: When an aircraft crosses that threshold -- around 1,225 kilometers (760 miles) per hour at sea level -- it produces waves from the pressure it puts on the air around it, which merge to cause the ear-splitting sound. In an intricate maneuver by "rock star" pilots at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, two supersonic T-38 jets flew just 30 feet (nine meters) apart below another plane waiting to photograph them with an advanced, high-speed camera, the agency said. The rendezvous -- at an altitude of around 30,000 feet -- yielded mesmerizing images of the shockwaves emanating from both planes. You can view all of the photos via NASA.

Comments

Gas Dyamics by Zuckrow

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Remember seeing Schlieren pictures while doing the gas dynamics I course back in college.

The formula P by Po = ( 1 + (gamma - 1)/gamma * M^2) ^ (( gamma - 1)/gamma) I will never forget. Brain cells spent memorizing that formula are frozen for ever, can never be repurposed to do anything else, even if I have do earthly reason to calculate the total pressure in a supersonic flow ever again! The last Gas Dynamics examn I sat for was 32 years ago!

Ear-splitting sound

[PPH]

Please. Stop already. I've heard plenty of sonic booms and I'd be hard pressed to describe them as 'ear-splitting'. If you live in the mid-west, Florida or other areas, thunderstorms create far higher sound pressure levels. And do more damage to windows and structures as well.

If we can't get the highly suggestible people over the idea that sonic booms are intolerably loud, because they have been told they are, we will never develop supersonic aircraft.