Design Optimization of Nose Geometry of F-5E Aircraft for Sonic Boom Mitigation

The modified F-5E aircraft of Northrop Grumman for sonic boom shaping, also known as the Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstrator is equipped with an optimized nose attachment for sonic boom mitigation. The nose is extended by 20 % of the aircraft length using an axisymmetric attachment. The geometry of the extension is optimized for ground level sonic boom mitigation using Response Surface Methodology and Computational Fluid Dynamics. 42.1 % reduction on the ground signal leading shock strength is predicted for the proposed nose modification, with 0.96 % increase in lift and 1.08 decrease in drag. High fidelity non-linear prediction methods are used which include unstructured Euler near-field solution with grid adaptation and shock fitting and 2nd order non-linear full potential signal marching in entire cross-flow through mid-field