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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 199 records · Page 11

An IIR median hybrid filter

A new class of nonlinear filters, the so-called class of multidirectional infinite impulse response median hybrid filters, is presented and analyzed. The input signal is processed twice using a linear shift-invariant infinite impulse response filtering module: once with normal causality and a second time with inverted causality. The final output of the MIMH filter is the median of the two-directional outputs and the original input signal. Thus, the MIMH filter is a concatenation of linear filtering and nonlinear filtering (a median filtering module). Because of this unique scheme, the MIMH filter possesses many desirable properties which are both proven and analyzed (including impulse removal, step preservation, and noise suppression). A comparison to other existing median type filters is also provided.

Bauer, Peter H.↗

Evaluation of a doubly-swept blade tip for rotorcraft noise reduction

A computational study was performed for a doubly-swept rotor blade tip to determine its benefit for high-speed impulsive (HSI) and blade-vortex interaction (BVI) noise. This design consists of aft and forward sweep. For the HSI-noise computations, unsteady Euler calculations were performed for several variations to a rotor blade geometry. A doubly-swept planform was predicted to increase the delocalizing Mach number to 0.94 (representative of a 200+ kt helicopter). For the BVI-noise problem, it had been hypothesized that the doubly-swept blade tip, by producing a leading-edge vortex, would reduce the tip-vortex effect on BVI noise. A procedure was used in which the tip vortex velocity profile computed by a Navier-Stokes solver was used to compute the inflow associated with BVI. This inflow was used by a Euler solver to compute the unsteady pressures for an acoustic analysis. The results of this study were inconclusive due to the difficulty in accurately predicting the viscous tip vortex downstream of the blade. Also, for the condition studied, no leading-edge vortex formed at the tip.

Wake, Brian E.↗

Comparison of several techniques to obtain multiple-look SAR imagery

In order to improve image interpretability when SAR imagery is contaminated by coherent speckle noise, multiple look images are often generated. The performance levels of techniques for the generation of such multiple look imagery are presently assessed, with attention to the detailed impulse responses and signal-to-speckle noise ratios obtainable. The speckle-reduction technique considered are those of the discrete mixed integrator and the image domain filter. It is found that, by using several types of image domain filters, the signal-to-speckle noise ratio can be improved over the conventional discrete mixed integrator method's results while maintaining the equivalent rectangular resolution constant.

Li, F.-K.↗

Acoustic Improvements to the 9- by 15-Foot Low Speed Wind Tunnel

A major refurbishment of the 9- by 15-Foot Low Speed Wind Tunnel at NASA Glenn Research Center was undertaken between 2016 and 2019 to improve the acoustic measurement capability of the facility. The principal objective was to lower the background noise in the test section so quiet aircraft propulsors could be tested with good signal-to-noise ratio. The secondary objective was to improve the anechoic quality of the facility so that the measurement uncertainty would be reduced and the data collected would be more accurate. The results of the project were a vastly improved anechoic wind tunnel, with one-third octave sound levels reduced by 8 to 18 dB in the frequency range of interest. The anechoic quality of the test section was improved substantially, reducing the effect of unwanted echoes contaminating the noise measurements, with the error in an impulse response measurement reduced from 0.8 dB to 0.2 dB. This report describes the main acoustic findings and is intended to provide guidance for other facilities requiring a low noise environment

Wind tunnel↗

A laboratory study of the subjective response to helicopter blade-slap noise

The test stimuli recorded during a recent field study consisted of 16 sounds, each presented at 4 peak noise levels. Two helicopters and a fixed-wing aircraft were used. The impulsive characteristics of one helicopter were varied by operating at different rotor speeds, whereas the other helicopter, the noise of which was dominated by the tail rotor, displayed little variation in blade-slap noise. Thirty-two subjects made noisiness judgments on a continuous, 11 point, numerical scale. Preliminary results indicate that proposed impulsiveness corrections provide no significant improvement in the noisiness predictive ability of Effective Perceived Noise Levels (EPNL). For equal EPNL, the two categories of helicopter stimuli, one of which was far more impulsive than the other, showed no difference in judged noisiness. Examination of the physical characteristics of the sounds presented in the laboratory highlighted the difficulty of reproducing acoustical signals with high-crest factors.

Shepherd, K. P.↗

Rotor Wake Vortex Definition: Initial Evaluation of 3-C PIV Results of the Hart-II Study

An initial evaluation is made of extensive three-component (3C) particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements within the wake across a rotor disk plane. The model is a 40 percent scale BO-105 helicopter main rotor in forward flight simulation. This study is part of the HART II test program conducted in the German-Dutch Wind Tunnel (DNW). Included are wake vortex field measurements over the advancing and retreating sides of the rotor operating at a typical descent landing condition important for impulsive blade-vortex interaction (BVI) noise. Also included are advancing side results for rotor angle variations from climb to steep descent. Using detailed PIV vector maps of the vortex fields, methods of extracting key vortex parameters are examined and a new method was developed and evaluated. An objective processing method, involving a center-of-vorticity criterion and a vorticity 'disk' integration, was used to determine vortex core size, strength, core velocity distribution characteristics, and unsteadiness. These parameters are mapped over the rotor disk and offer unique physical insight for these parameters of importance for rotor noise and vibration prediction.

Burley, Casey L.↗

Superconducting Quantum Arrays for Wideband Antennas and Low Noise Amplifiers

Superconducting Quantum Iinetference Filters (SQIF) consist of a two-dimensional array of niobium Josephson Junctions formed into N loops of incommensurate area. This structure forms a magnetic field (B) to voltage transducer with an impulse like response at B0. In principle, the signal-to-noise ratio scales as the square root of N and the noise can be made arbitrarily small (i.e. The SQIF chips are expected to exhibit quantum limited noise performance). A gain of about 20 dB was recently demonstrated at 10 GHz.

SQUID Detectors↗

Frequency modulation television analysis: Threshold impulse analysis

A computer program is developed to calculate the FM threshold impulse rates as a function of the carrier-to-noise ratio for a specified FM system. The system parameters and a vector of 1024 integers, representing the probability density of the modulating voltage, are required as input parameters. The computer program is utilized to calculate threshold impulse rates for twenty-four sets of measured probability data supplied by NASA and for sinusoidal and Gaussian modulating waveforms. As a result of the analysis several conclusions are drawn: (1) The use of preemphasis in an FM television system improves the threshold by reducing the impulse rate. (2) Sinusoidal modulation produces a total impulse rate which is a practical upper bound for the impulse rates of TV signals providing the same peak deviations. (3) As the moment of the FM spectrum about the center frequency of the predetection filter increases, the impulse rate tends to increase. (4) A spectrum having an expected frequency above (below) the center frequency of the predetection filter produces a higher negative (positive) than positive (negative) impulse rate.

Hodge, W. H.↗

A community survey of helicopter noise annoyance conducted under controlled noise exposure conditions

Reactions to low numbers of helicopter noise events (less than 50 per day) were studied in a community setting. Community residents were repeatedly interviewed about daily noise annoyance reactions on days when helicopter noise exposures were, without the residents' knowledge, controlled. The effects of maximum noise level and number of noise events on helicopter noise annoyance are consistent with the principles contained in LEQ-based noise indices. The effect of the duration of noise events is also consistent with LEQ-based indices. After removing the effect of differences in noise levels (LEQ) there is not an important difference between reactions to impulsive and nonimpulsive types of helicopters. EPNL, where corrected for number of overflights, and LEQ are approximately equally successful in representing the characteristics of noise which are related to human response. The new type of design provided estimates of the parameters in a noise reaction model which would not obtained with a similar degree of precision from conventional study designs.

Fields, J. M.↗

Evaluation of the annoyance due to helicopter rotor noise

A program was conducted in which 25 test subjects adjusted the levels of various helicopter rotor spectra until the combination of the harmonic noise and a broadband background noise was judged equally annoying as a higher level of the same broadband noise spectrum. The subjective measure of added harmonic noise was equated to the difference in the two levels of broadband noise. The test participants also made subjective evaluations of the rotor noise signatures which they created. The test stimuli consisted of three degrees of rotor impulsiveness, each presented at four blade passage rates. Each of these 12 harmonic sounds was combined with three broadband spectra and was adjusted to match the annoyance of three different sound pressure levels of broadband noise. Analysis of variance indicated that the important variables were level and impulsiveness. Regression analyses indicated that inclusion of crest factor improved correlation between the subjective measures and various objective or physical measures.

Sternfeld, H., Jr.↗

Acoustic measurements of a full-scale coaxial helicopter

Acoustic data were obtained during a full-scale test of the XH-59A Advancing Blade Concept (ABC) Technology Demonstrator in the NASA Ames 40- by 80-Foot Wind Tunnel. The XH-59A is a research helicopter with two coaxial rotors and hingeless blades. Performance, vibration, noise at various forward speeds, rotor lift coefficients, and rotor shaft angles of attack were investigated. In general, the noise level is shown to increase with rotor lift coefficient except under certain operating conditions where it is increased by significant impulsive blade/vortex interactions. The impulsivity appears to depend upon how the lift is distributed between the two rotors. The noise levels measured are shown to be slightly higher than on a modern conventional rotor tested in the same facility.

Mosher, M.↗

Helicopter rotor noise generation.

Distributive loading rotational theory for helicopter rotor noise generation, considering steady and fluctuating force radiation and impulsive blade slap

Leverton, J. W.↗

Aeroacoustic interaction of a distributed vortex with a lifting Joukowski airfoil

A first principles computational aeroacoustics calculation of the flow and noise fields produced by the interaction of a distributed vortex with a lifting Joukowski airfoil is accomplished at the Reynolds number of 200. The case considered is that where the circulations of the vortex and the airfoil are of opposite sign, corresponding to blade vortex interaction on the retreating side of a single helicopter rotor. The results show that the flow is unsteady, even in the absence of the incoming vortex, resulting in trailing edge noise generation. After the vortex is input, it initially experiences a quite rapid apparent diffusion rate produced by stretching in the airfoil velocity gradients. Consideration of the effects of finite vortex size and viscosity causes the noise radiation during the encounter to be much less impulsive than predicted by previous analyses.

Hardin, J. C.↗

Community reactions to helicopter noise - Results from an experimental study

Community reactions to low numbers of helicopter noise events (less than 50 per day) are investigated using a new type of study design. Although the effect of maximum noise level and number of noise events on helicopter noise annoyance was found to be similar to that represented by the energy summation principle contained in L(eq)-based noise indices, it is noted that the possibility that the number of noise events has only a small effect on annoyance cannot be rejected at the conventional p of less than 0.05 level. The effect of the duration of noise events was also shown to be consistent with L(eq)-based indices. After removing the effects of differences in duration and noise levels, little difference is found between reactions to impulsive and nonimpulsive types of helicopters.

Fields, James M.↗

Characteristics of internal- and jet-noise radiation from a multi-lobe, multi-tube suppressor nozzle tested statically and under flight simulation

Nozzle transmission coefficient (NTC) for a 12-lobe, 24-tube suppressor nozzle and a reference round convergent nozzle of equal area are obtained by an impulse test technique. This technique utilizes a high voltage spark discharge as a noise source within the test duct. Effects of nozzle geometry, jet Mach number, jet temperature and flight velocity on the radiation characteristics of the two nozzles are presented. Likewise, the jet mixing noise measured in the absence of internal noise for both nozzles at static and also simulated flight conditions are discussed.

Ahuja, K. K.↗

Sound radiation from single and annular stream nozzles, with modal decomposition of in-duct acoustic power

An experimental program was carried out to study the acoustic characteristics of single and annular stream duct-nozzle systems at various flow conditions by using a refined acoustic impulse technique. In this technique, signal synthesis and signal averaging processes are incorporated to generate a desired impulsive signal from acoustic driver(s) and to eliminate background noise (flow noise) from in-duct and far field signals, respectively. The contribution of higher order modes to incident reflected and transmitted acoustic powers is accounted for by using a modal decomposition process. The annular stream terminations were tested statically at various annular stream flow velocities with no inner stream flow. The results derived from the experiments include in-duct acoustic powers, termination reflection coefficients, transmission coefficients, far field power, and acoustic dissipation.

Salikuddin, M.↗

Creating competitive rotorcraft noise technology

Rotorcraft noise includes turbofan engine noise components, as well as noise from the main and tail rotors that is conditioned by the aircraft's various operational modes. Both of the rotors generate loading noise and broadband noise. Another noise contributor is blade/vortex interaction noise, which results when shed vortices are encountered by a following blade, releasing impulsive acoustic energy. Attention is presently given to the experimental and developmental initiatives to be made by a NASA/industry five-year program that began in 1983. Aeroacoustic data acquired from experiments conducted in NASA facilities can be used in the development of empirical noise prediction methods, in the improvement of existing noise prediction methodology, in the evaluation of proposed reduced noise designs, and in the establishment of useful scaling relationships for selected noise-generating mechanisms.

Raney, J. P.↗

Reverberation Time Measurements in the NASA Langley Exterior Effects Room (EER)

One-third octave band background noise and reverberation time measurements were conducted in the Exterior Effect Room (EER) at the NASA Langley Research Center. The related overall acoustic absorption of the room was calculated. The acoustic field in the room was characterized. Reverberation time measurements were performed using the integrated impulse response method. The results were compared with independent measurements using the interrupted noise reverberation time method and different instrumentation. Reasonable agreement was obtained between the reverberation times of the two methods.

Grosveld, Ferdinand W.↗