Page "Sonic boom" Paragraph 10

For today's supersonic aircraft in normal operating conditions, the peak overpressure varies from less than 50 to 500 Pa ( one pound per square foot to about 10 pounds per square foot ) for a N-wave boom.

Peak overpressures for U-waves are amplified two to five times the N-wave, but this amplified overpressure impacts only a very small area when compared to the area exposed to the rest of the sonic boom.

The strongest sonic boom ever recorded was 7, 000 Pa ( 144 pounds per square foot ) and it did not cause injury to the researchers who were exposed to it.

The boom was produced by a F-4 flying just above the speed of sound at an altitude of.

In recent tests, the maximum boom measured during more realistic flight conditions was 1, 010 Pa ( 21 pounds per square foot ).

There is a probability that some damage — shattered glass for example — will result from a sonic boom.

Buildings in good repair should suffer no damage by pressures of 11 pounds per square foot or less.

And, typically, community exposure to sonic boom is below two pounds per square foot.

Ground motion resulting from sonic boom is rare and is well below structural damage thresholds accepted by the U. S. Bureau of Mines and other agencies.