Low Boom Supersonic Aircraft Configuration Optimization Using Inverse Design Method

Abstract

Mitigation of sonic boom to an acceptable stage is a key point for the next generation of supersonic transports. Meanwhile, designing a supersonic aircraft with an ideal ground signature is always the focus of research on sonic boom reduction. This paper presents an inverse design approach to optimize the near-field signature of an aircraft making it close to the shaped ideal ground signature after the propagation in the atmosphere. Using the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method, a guessed input of augmented Burgers equation is inversely achieved. By multiple POD iterations, the guessed ground signatures successively approach the target ground signature until the convergence criteria is reached. Finally, the corresponding equivalent area distribution is calculated from the optimal near-field signature through the classical Whitham F-function theory. To validate this method, an optimization example of Lockheed Martin 1021 is demonstrated. The modified configuration has a fully shaped ground signature and achieves a drop of perceived loudness by 7.94 PLdB. Finally, a non-physical ground signature is set as the target to test the robustness of this inverse design method.