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^5B. CONCORDE
ensure that the aircraft is not left out of trim even in the
unlikely event of a four-engine failure and a violent decelera-
tion to subsonic speed.
SONI C BOOM
There are about as many people who think that the sonic
boom will be worse than ' we think as there are who think
it will be better than we thinkwhich is another way of
saying that nobody knows what it is going to be like.
There is no mystery about the physical nature of the boom.
It is caused by the fact that when an aeroplane is travelling
supersonically it is moving faster than the pressure disturbances
which it is propagating. These coalesce into conical shock
fronts inclined to the aircraft path at an angle which becomes
more acute with Mach number.
Around the aircraft there are a series of shock waves
emanating from the fuselage, the wing, and the tail. Away
from the aircraft these merge into two main shock waves.
On reaching the ground they pass over the human ear as a
boom or, if the two shocks are more than 50 milliseconds
apart, a double boom. The actual pressure on the ground
and the width of the "boom carpet" depend on the height,
weight and Mach number of the aircraft, and many other
variables such as cloud cover, terrain, buildings, and so on.
The boom zone could be up to 50 miles wide, and typical
pressures recorded on the ground from the Concorde might
be between 1 and 21b/ft, the peak being during the climb
when supersonic transition is made below 35,000ft. Some
experts say that a boom of 0.751b is as much as the public
will tolerate; others say that 0.2lb is as much as could be
suffered day in day out.
One of the leading experts on the sonic boom, Professor
E. J. Richards, of Southampton University, has said in Science
Journal that there is "quite definitely not going to be one
critical value of the sonic boom below which flying is accept-
able and above which it is intolerable." As a very rough
guide as to what the public might have to suffer, or might
be expected to tolerate, a 21b boom may have about the same
annoyance value as 110 PNdB*which is the maximum
allowed airport daytime take-off limit. At night this limit is
102 PNdB. So a 21b boom might bring as many complaints
from the public as an aircraft taking off in the day and
generating 110 PNdB or taking off at night and generating
102 PNdB. With, of course, one big difference: like the lady
of Banbury Cross with bells on her toes, she shall have music
where' er she goes.
The true solution, in Professor Rfchards's opinion, "appears
to lie not in designing the SST in a particular way but in
choosing its routes with extreme care; and this should be
the real point of discussion. Acceptable transatlantic routes
are relatively simple to find. We must miss Bristol [the home
of the Concorde], South Wales, Dublin and Belfast, and route
the aircraft as much as possible over the sea. On the other
hand, flights to New York and Los Angeles from Paris,
Frankfurt, Cologne, Bonn, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Stock-
holm need lengthy consideration. Many of these routes pass
directly along the London airways and supersonic traffic would
quickly, and rightly, give rise to a massive outburst of com-
plaints. Only by choosing the least built-up areas can such
flights be made acceptable. The situation in respect of domestic
routes in the United States is, of course, still more severe.
The ultimate judgment must be on the basis of whether or
* A "perceived noise decibel" is a measure of noise which takes
into account the pitch as well as the pressure (db) of a sound.
An equivalent perceived noise decibel (EPNdB) is a PNdB corrected
for tone and duration of the noise.
Flight International CONCORDE
not supersonic flying provides an overall advantage to the
community and its economy."
It is just possible that the Concorde boom will be negligible.
We shall have some idea towards the end of the year when
the prototype starts to fly at Mach 2. If it is bad then we
shall have to do what we have had to do at airports: schedule
the operation of the aircraft in such a way that it is the
least nuisance, and lay down international criteria which are
agreed and enforcedthough in this case the enforcing
authorities will have to be national rather than the airport
owners, and the problem of identifying transgressors will be
more difficult. One cheerful thought for the operators is
the fact that Concorde miles per gallon are almost the same
subsonic as supersonic, so that the economic penaltiesthough
serious in terms of time and seat-mile costswill not be
disastrous. We are also told that the manufacturer' s market
estimate of 250 aircraft is based on the assumption that super-
sonic flight over land will be banned.
How about airport noise? The Concorde will have to meet
the requirements which limit perceived noise decibels at a
point four miles from the start of take-off roll to 110 PNdB
by day and 102 PNdB by night. Limits on airport boundary
noise (sideline noise) and on approach noisewhich in the
opinion of many people who live near airports is more
distressing than take-off noiseare also to be laid down,
monitored and enforced. Proposed new American requirements
are 102-108 EPNdb on the approach, 93-108 on take-off, and
102-108 EPNdB sideline. Future aircraft will have to be
certified for their "noiseworthiness."
RADI ATI ON AND OZONE
Two other new problems will have to be carefully watched,
though they do not fill the Anti-Concorde League with such
delight as does noise. Both are a function of the higher
cruising altitude, of from 55,000ft to 63,000ft. One is cosmic
radiation and its effect on skin tissues, and the other is the
higher ozone content of the upper atmosphere and its effect
on passengers.
There are three sources of radiation: atomic particles from
outer space, mostly protons; solar flare radiation; and nuclear
explosion debris drifting in the upper air. Radiation is
measured in roentgens, and the amount absorbed in one gram
of human tissue is known as a "rep. " The damage caused
depends on the type of radiation, alpha type being worse
than X type, and the measure of the damaging effect of a
radiation dose is known as a "rem." The limit for radiation
workers is laid down as five rems a year. The worst case in
the Concorde is likely to be suffered at high latitudes and
altitudes during a period of intense sunspot activity like that
which occurred on February 23, 1956.
It has been estimated that the occupants of a Concorde
flying on that day at high polar latitude (the magnetic poles
attract atomic particles) at 65,Q00ft would have had a dose
in one flight equal to the five rem allowed for radiation
workers in one year. The 1956 sunspot was the worst recorded
for 22 years; but it is clear that Concorde crews and passengers
will have to be protected against such occurrences.
The Concorde will be fitted with a radiation meter calibrated
to warn the pilot to descend to a safe altitude should the
solar-flare radiation level reach 0.2 rems per hour. The
penalties of taking evasive action are unlikely to be serious,
and the chances of Concorde experiencing such radiation are
statistically very small, with a sunspot cycle of 11 years and
most Concorde schedules at lower latitudes.
Cosmic radiation and nuclear debris can safely be ignored,
as their effects will be no worse than that of a luminous wrist
watch.
Ozone, or O3, is produced by t he action of ultra-violet on