Sonic boom simulation of meteorite entry. Very large distances. Real gas effects demonstrated.

What is it about?

We performed for the first time direct numerical simulation of sonic boom from a hypersonic meteorite entering Earth atmosphere. To reach the weak shock regime, shocks needed to be captured at very large distances from the meteorite, which was a challenge. The influence on remote ground sonic boom of real gas effects (ionization, dissociation) due to local high temperature was quantitatively demonstrated for the first time.

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