On the possibility of turbulent thickening of weak shock waves

Abstract

This paper examines the possible thickening of an initially sharp sonic boom by the turbulence it encounters in passing to the ground. Three apparently different viewpoints, all indicating substantial thickening, are shown to be actually identical and to give an irrelevant upper bound on wave thickness. All three approaches describe only the apparent mean diffusion induced by random convection of a sharp wave about its nominal position. Although a wave-front folding mechanism ultimately accounts for an apparent thickening as individual rays are weakened and tangled by turbulence, this process is too slow to be effective in the practical boom situation. The paper then considers what linear thickening of a wave packet results from propagation trough atmospheric turbulence and concludes that, in the relevant limit, a wave may be thickened by a factor of about 2 at the most. The conclusion is therefore reached that atmospheric turbulence cannot be the cause of the thousandfold discrepancy between the measured wave fronts and their Taylor thickness.