Supersonic aircraft Supersonic aircraft A supersonic aircraft is an aircraft able to fly faster than the speed of sound (Mach number 1). Supersonic aircraft were developed in the second half of the twentieth century and have been used almost entirely for research and military purposes. Only two, Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144, ever entered service for civil use as airliners. Fighter jets are the most common example of supersonic aircraft. The aerodynamics of supersonic flight is called compressible flow because of the compression (physics) associated with the shock waves or "sonic boom" created by any object travelling faster than sound. Aircraft flying
Shock (fluid dynamics) Shock (fluid dynamics) "Shock" is an abrupt discontinuity in the flow field and It occurs in flows when the local flow speed exceeds the local sound speed. More specifically, it is a flow whose Mach number exceeds 1. Shock is formed due to coalescence of various small pressure pulses. Sound waves are pressure waves and it is at the speed of the sound wave the disturbances are "communicated" in the medium. When an object is moving in a flow field the object sends out disturbances which propagate at the speed of sound and "adjusts" the remaining flow field accordingly. However,