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The Effect of Sonic Booms on Earthquake Warning SystemsSeveral aerospace companies are designing quiet supersonic business jets for service over the United States. These aircraft have the potential to increase the occurrence of mild sonic booms across the country. This leads to interest among earthquake warning (EQW) developers and the general seismological community in characterizing the effect of sonic booms on seismic sensors in the field, their potential impact on EQW systems, and means of discriminating their signatures from those of earthquakes. The SonicBREWS project (Sonic Boom Resistant Earthquake Warning Systems) is a collaborative effort between Seismic Warning Systems, Inc. (SWS) and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. This project aims to evaluate the effects of sonic booms on EQW sensors. The study consists of exposing high-sample-rate (1000 sps) triaxial accelerometers to sonic booms with overpressures ranging from 10 to 600 Pa in the free field and the built environment. The accelerometers record the coupling of the sonic boom to the ground and surrounding structures, while microphones record the acoustic wave above ground near the sensor. Sonic booms are broadband signals with more high-frequency content than earthquakes. Even a 1000 sps accelerometer will produce a significantly aliased record. Thus the observed peak ground velocity is strongly dependent on the sampling rate, and increases as the sampling rate is reduced. At 1000 sps we observe ground velocities that exceed those of P-waves from ML 3 earthquakes at local distances, suggesting that sonic booms are not negligible for EQW applications. We present the results of several experiments conducted under SonicBREWS showing the effects of typical-case low amplitude sonic booms and worst-case high amplitude booms. We show the effects of various sensor placements and sensor array geometries. Finally, we suggest possible avenues for discriminating sonic booms from earthquakes for the purposes of EQW.
Document ID
20110013392
Acquisition Source
Armstrong Flight Research Center
Document Type
Presentation
Authors
Wurman, Gilead (Seismic Warning Systems, Inc. Scotts Valley, CA, United States)
Haering, Edward A, Jr. (NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Edwards, CA, United States)
Price, Michael J. (Seismic Warning Systems, Inc. Scotts Valley, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
April 13, 2011
Subject Category
Geosciences (General)
Report/Patent Number
DFRC-E-DAA-TN3366
Meeting Information
Meeting: Seismological Society of America''s Annual Meeting
Location: Memphis, TX
Country: United States
Start Date: April 13, 2011
Sponsors: Seismology Society of America
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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