Building vibration due to sonic boom—Results from simulations and field measurements

Sonic boom causing rattling and whole-body vibration in buildings can lead to human disturbance and annoyance. An overview of research on sonic boom vibration in the EU RUMBLE project is presented here. Numerical simulations are carried out for sets of buildings encompassing a variety of European building styles, and for different transmission situations such as with and without open windows. We calibrate the simulations with previous laboratory data and recorded sound and vibration data from field experiments in Tretyakov (Russia). We then use the simulation to understand how sensitive the vibrations are to various buildings and conditions. Moreover, correlations of sonic boom metrics to the measured and simulated vibrations are quantified. Two different types of vibration generation mechanisms are detected and analysed: The first one is floor vibrations being set up from the indoor sound transmitted from outdoor. The second is the horizontal motion of the whole building being set up by the outdoor sound at the lower overall resonance frequency of the building. It is found that both types of generation mechanisms can be important for sonic boom, and that they take place for different frequencies.