The pressure wave produced during the launch of the Space Shuttle and
its dynamic effects on ground support structures are studied in this p
aper. The discrete form of the Fourier transform and the fast Fourier
transform algorithm are employed to characterize the pressure wave and
to generate design and evaluation data. Analysis is performed on pres
sure recordings collected from eight pressure transducers mounted on t
he roof and walls of a building approximately 90 m West of Launch Pad
39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A total of 23 pressure pulses were sa
mpled every 0.25 ms for a 10 s duration from six different launches. T
he analysis produces a pressure-time plot and power spectrum, represen
ting the frequency content of the pressure wave which identifies its a
bility to excite a structure. Also produced are response spectra for e
ach pressure wave for various amounts of damping. These spectra may be
used to predict the dynamic response of a structure located near a la
unch site.