Explosive Noise Sensing

it somewhere around what you could find inside a kick drum so there should be several mics available that can handle it

I believe the classic sm58 is rated for something like 150dB spl

-Lasse

Surely, you aren't going to put a microphone inside the muzzle?

Typically, one prepares a field with a large array of microphones, and uses the known geometry of the outgoing sound wave (you know this by analyzing different microphones) to backtrace to the origin point. Here in Seattle, the origin point is usually a jet engine test stand.

That should be Pa. A typical rifle can be upwards of 10kPa or more. The dB can be upwards of 200+dB. All this depends on distance from the muzzle. I'm mainly looking for a comparison method but would ultimately like to put a device a few inches from the muzzle to measure the blast strength. Obviously distance is a key factor.

Of course not.

I simply want to measure the sound pressure at various points near a muzzle but not simultaneously. The goal is to compare different device configurations on the blast pressure levels. In this case it is not completely necessary to measure very close to the muzzle but I would like to have that option.

At 3000 psi the dielectric constant of air increases to about 1.1. So a stiff parallel-plate capacitor, with a healthy DC bias, would make a pretty good signal when blasted with a pressure wave. Apply DC to one plate and dump the other into a charge amp. This can be calibrated by just doing math on the geometry.

Hmmm... an array of such caps could make an imaging pressure-wave detector.

Oh, one atm is about 194 dB SPL.

John

Can you make a 'good' acoustic attenuator?

George H.