Sensitivity analysis for sonic boom phenomena for different type of supersonic aircraft

In the last decades, the effort of scientist and engineer have result in the creation of reliable methods for the prediction of sonic-boom phenomena. In particular for this work it was used Carlson's method that provides estimates of sonic-boom pressure and time duration over the entire exposed ground area for vehicles in level flight or in moderate climb or descent flight profiles. This thesis studied the sonic boom pressure level and duration time for Concorde, Stratofly and GreenHawk3 concept. A sensitivity analysis was first carried out by varying altitude, aircraft length, Mach number and flight path angle. The previous parameters were varied simultaneously in order to determine what had the greatest influence on the sonic boom analysis. Regarding GreenHawk3 conceptual design, the reduction of shape factor was investigated by positioning the wings two metres forward.The influence of the positioning of a canard was also studied. Finally, regarding Stratofly project, an analysis was carried out for an aircraft with a length of 70% of the original.