Reduction of the sonic boom level by heating the flow in front of the body

A numerical study of the possibility of reducing the sonic boom level in the case of local heat release to a supersonic gas flow at Mach number equal to 2 ahead of a body is described. The computations are performed for a spherical heat supply zone located on the flight trajectory ahead of the tip of an axisymmetric thin body. For the numerical study the combined method of "phantom bodies" is used. Different magnitudes of heat supply to the incoming flow are tested. These calculations are performed with allowance for interaction of shock waves emanating from the heated gas region and from the body in the far field. The computational results show that the local heat supply to a supersonic gas flow ahead of a body can reduce the sonic boom level by more than 20 %. The reduction of the sonic boom level is ensured by changing the free-stream parameters ahead of the body and by preventing the coalescence of shock waves from the heat supply zone and from the body in the far field.