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At least 73 records · Page 4

ATS-6 spacecraft - An EMC challenge

A series of analytical, measurement, and experimental EMI tests were performed on ATS-6. The EMC problems encountered included: (1) wiring pickup and reradiation, (2) input rectification and bias offset, (3) harmonics, (4) component degradation, (5) unbalanced shield ground, (6) inadvertent pickup, and (7) electro-explosive devices. The test program consisted of materials evaluation (with regard to shielding effectiveness, cost, weight, etc.), sun sensor RF susceptibility, cable shielding material evaluation, RF integrity of solar panels and power harnesses, anechoic chamber tests, bonding and grounding, and shielding and thermal control.

Kampinsky, A.↗

Fan noise reduction at subsonic and supersonic tip speeds with high Mach number inlets

Results are presented for an experimental study of two fixed geometry inlets and one translating centerbody type inlet tested in an anechoic-chamber transonic-compressor facility. The test vehicle was a 12-inch tip diameter single-stage transonic compressor with 19 rotor blades and 30 stator blades located approximately two chord lengths downstream of the rotor. It is shown that the translating centerbody type of inlet is superior to the collapsing cowl type for noise reduction at high subsonic Mach numbers, both acoustically and aerodynamically. The feasibility of using a high inlet Mach number depends largely on the maximum area ratio requirement (normally at landing). The high inlet Mach numbers are more effective in reducing high-frequency noise than low frequencies and more effective in reducing the blade passage frequency than the overall noise level.

Lumsdaine, E.↗

Measurements of the reflection factor of flat ground surfaces

Measurements are made of the reflection factors of asphalt, concrete, and sod at oblique angles of incidence. Initial measurements were carried out in an anechoic chamber to eliminate the effects of wind and temperature gradients. These were followed by measurements made outdoors over a wider frequency range. Data are presented for the magnitudes of the reflection factors of asphalt, concrete, and sod at angles of incidence of 38 deg and 45 deg.

Ventres, C. S.↗

An experimental investigation of helicopter rotor high frequency broadband noise

The paper describes experiments involving a 4.17 foot diameter model rotor operating in a 5 times 7.5 ft open jet wind tunnel enclosed in an anechoic chamber. The effects of rotor thrust, advance ratio, and the number of blades on the intensity and spectrum of high frequency broadband noise (HFBN) have been investigated. The effects of each parameter were determined by keeping the other two constant. The directivities of the two- and three-bladed rotors were measured in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the rotor disk. The effects of heading edge, pressure side, and suction side serrations on HFBN were measured under several operating conditions, and the effects of the serrations on the mean thrust generated by the rotor were studied. A scaling law is proposed to determine the location of the peak frequency and intensity of HFBN.

Lee, A.↗

Experimental determination of sound and high-speed flow interaction

An experimental facility for measuring the attenuation of sound at various frequencies and modes in a finite duct with high-speed flow (with or without an axial pressure gradient) is described. The facility consists of an anechoic chamber transonic compressor with inlets of different area variations (or axial gradients); sound of selected frequencies and modes is produced with eight circumferential acoustic drivers. The experimental results indicate that high Mach number inlets can increase noise propagation. In addition, an inlet with a constant axial gradient is found to have a better acoustic and aerodynamic performance than inlets of the same area ratio with steep gradients near the throat or exit.

Lumsdaine, E.↗

Escort - A data acquisition and display system to support research testing

A combination of a central minicomputer and test-site microcomputers has been adopted to provide on-line data acquisition and display service for a large number of different research programs. By integrating the data acquisition and recording functions in the minicomputer/microcomputer system, rapidly updated displays of selected data in terms of engineering units may be obtained. The system described here is primarily designed for steady-state test conditions, but may also provide data on slow transients associated with changing experimental conditions. Application of the system to full-scale jet engine tests, ion thruster assessments and anechoic chamber analyses are mentioned.

Miller, R. L.↗

Basic research in fan source noise: Inlet distortion and turbulence noise

A widely recognized problem in jet engine fan noise is the discrepancy between inflight and static tests. This discrepancy consists of blade passing frequency tones, caused by ingested turbulence that appear in the static tests but not in flight. To reduce the ingested distortions and turbulence in an anechoic chamber, a reverse cone inlet is used to guide the air into the fan. This inlet also has provisions for boundary layer suction and is used in conjunction with a turbulence control structure (TCS) to condition the air impinging on the fan. The program was very successful in reducing the ingested turbulence, to the point where reductions in the acoustic power at blade passing frequency are as high as 18 db for subsonic tip speeds. Even with this large subsonic tone suppression, the supersonic tip speed tonal content remains largely unchanged, indicating that the TCS did not appreciably attenuate the noise but effects the generation via turbulence reduction. Turbulence mapping of the inlet confirmed that the tone reductions are due to a reduction in turbulence, as the low frequency power spectra of the streamwise and transverse turbulence were reduced by up to ten times and 100 times, respectively.

Kantola, R. A.↗

Radar cross section measurements of a scale model of the space shuttle orbiter vehicle

A series of microwave measurements was conducted to determine the radar cross section of the Space Shuttle Orbiter vehicle at a frequency and at aspect angles applicable to re-entry radar acquisition and tracking. The measurements were performed in a microwave anechoic chamber using a 1/15th scale model and a frequency applicable to C-band tracking radars. The data were digitally recorded and processed to yield statistical descriptions useful for prediction of orbiter re-entry detection and tracking ranges.

Yates, W. T.↗

Analysis, design, and test of acoustic treatment in a laboratory inlet duct

A suppression prediction program based on the method of modal analysis for spinning mode propagation in a circular duct was used in the analytical design of optimized, multielement, Kevlar bulk-absorber treatment configurations for an inlet duct. The NASA-Langley ANRL anechoic chamber using the spinning mode synthesizer as a sound source was used to obtain in-duct spinning mode measurements, radial mode measurements, and far-field traverses, as well as aerodynamic measurements. The measured suppression values were compared to predicted values, using the in-duct, forward-traveling, radial-mode content as the source for the prediction. The performance of the treatment panels was evaluated from the predicted and measured data. Although experimental difficulties were encountered at the design condition, sufficient information was obtained to confirm the expectation that it is the panel impedance components which are critical to suppression at a single frequency, not the particular construction materials. The agreement obtained between measurement and prediction indicates that the analytical program can be used as an accurate, reliable, and useful design tool.

Kraft, R. E.↗

The effect of throttling on forward radiated fan noise

A study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of operating line throttling on inlet-arc noise from high speed fans. Experimental measurements on a 1/4-scale fan stage tested in an anechoic chamber, with and without inlet turbulence control devices, were utilized to assess the effect of constant speed throttling on the forward arc radiated noise characteristics. Different effects were observed in different speed ranges with different types of inflow turbulence control. These effects were correlated with some of the current theories on fan noise generation mechanisms, and partial success was achieved in attempting to relate the various theoretical models to the observed trends. The results of this study have an important bearing on estimating the noise characteristics of new fan designs from scaling the measured characteristics of previously tested fans.

Gliebe, P. R.↗

Reduction of rotor-turbulence interaction noise in static fan noise testing

Three effective inlet cleanup methods are described. A flared reverse cone inlet is used to eliminate wakes from the fan casings and/or probe supports. Boundary layer suction is employed ahead of the fan rotor and on the outer flare of the cone to reduce the boundary layer turbulence and remove any residual wakes. To reduce the midstream turbulent intensity and length scales, a turbulence control structure is used which is constructed with both a layer of honeycomb and a fine mesh screen. The effects of these cleanup methods are quantified by measuring the far-field noise in an anechoic chamber, using a high-speed 20-in.-diam fan of the current high passband type. The changes in the turbulent field impinging on this rotor are quantified by mapping the streamwise and transverse turbulent properties (spectra, intensity and length scale) with crossed hot film probes. It is convincingly shown that it is possible to clean up the inlet flow of a static fan noise test facility to a point where the static acoustic data simulate flight data.

Kantola, R. A.↗

Evaluation of approximate methods for the prediction of noise shielding by airframe components

An evaluation of some approximate methods for the prediction of shielding of monochromatic sound and broadband noise by aircraft components is reported. Anechoic-chamber measurements of the shielding of a point source by various simple geometric shapes were made and the measured values compared with those calculated by the superposition of asymptotic closed-form solutions for the shielding by a semi-infinite plane barrier. The shields used in the measurements consisted of rectangular plates, a circular cylinder, and a rectangular plate attached to the cylinder to simulate a wing-body combination. The normalized frequency, defined as a product of the acoustic wave number and either the plate width or cylinder diameter, ranged from 4.6 to 114. Microphone traverses in front of the rectangular plates and cylinders generally showed a series of diffraction bands that matched those predicted by the approximate methods, except for differences in the magnitudes of the attenuation minima which can be attributed to experimental inaccuracies. The shielding of wing-body combinations was predicted by modifications of the approximations used for rectangular and cylindrical shielding. Although the approximations failed to predict diffraction patterns in certain regions, they did predict the average level of wing-body shielding with an average deviation of less than 3 dB.

Ahtye, W. F.↗

Effect of inflow control on inlet noise of a cut-on fan

A cut-on, high tip speed fan stage was acoustically tested with three configurations of an inflow control device in the NASA Lewis anechoic chamber. Although this was a cut-on design, rotor-inflow interaction appeared to be a much stronger source of blade passing tone radiated from the inlet than rotor-stator interaction for the 1.6 mean rotor chord separation. Aft external suction applied to the area where the inflow control device joined the inlet produced a further reduction in blade passing tone suggesting that disturbances in the forward flow on the outside of the inlet were superimposed on the inlet boundary layer and were a significant source of tone noise.

Woodward, R. P.↗

Free-field propagation of high intensity noise

Research on high intensity (finite amplitude) acoustic waves shows that nonlinear distortion effects generally result in a shift of energy to higher frequencies. The higher intensities associated with supersonic jets would therefore indicate that high frequency enhancement of the spectrum should occur, resulting in the differences observed between subsonic and supersonic jets. A 10,000 acoustic watt source installed in an anechoic chamber generates sound levels such that acoustic shocks are readily observable. Dual frequency excitation of the source produces a strong parametric effect with a difference frequency comparable in level to the primary frequency. The test set up and recording equipment being used to determine the finite amplitude noise representative of an actual supersonic jet are described as well as the development of a computer program based on Burger's equation. The spectra of 1/2 octave band, 1 kHz sine wave, and dual frequency input and output are presented in graphs along with waveforms at Z = .025, 0.1, and 1.0.

Mcdaniel, O. H.↗

Mixer nozzle aeroacoustic characteristics for the energy efficient engine

Aeroacoustic tests are conducted on scale model mixer nozzle configurations, a separate flow nozzle, and a baseline conical nozzle in an anechoic chamber free-jet facility to investigate exhaust system designs. Far-field acoustic data and exhaust jet plume aerodynamic data are obtained for various combinations of exhaust jet velocity and simulated flight speed, with corrected microphone data at a constant 12.2 m arc distance, and scaled acoustic data at a sideline distance of 457 m. It is found that jet plume aerodynamic and acoustic characteristics of lobed mixer exhaust systems are similar to those of a conical nozzle operating at the same specific thrust, although differences occur at high frequencies, where the sound pressure level of the mixer nozzle is 1-5 dB higher than that of a conical nozzle. In addition, no direct correlation is found between exit plane turbulence levels and plume development or acoustic characteristics for mixer exhaust configurations.

Gliebe, P. R.↗

Flight effects on supersonic convergent-divergent nozzle jet noise

The influence of forward flight on the noise generation from convergent-divergent (C-D) nozzle flows was determined experimentally. The experiments were performed in an anechoic chamber using a 2.03 cm diameter C-D nozzle with a design Mach number of 1.4 in a 25 cm diameter free jet flow. Far-field noise measurements and spectral analyses were carried out and visualization of the jet shock structure was made by a spark shadowgraph technique. Jet noise from supersonic C-D nozzle flows under forward flight was found to depend critically on the flight velocity and nozzle pressure ratio. Noise reduction up to 20 dB was observed in the rearward quadrant under flight; excess noise in the forward quadrant under flight resulted from relatively high frequency noise sources in the jet flow field. Screech tones, observed from overexpanded C-D nozzle flows, were suppressed during the simulated flight flow.

Wat, J.↗

Noise radiated from inverted velocity profile jets under simulated flight

Measurements were made of the noise radiated by an inverted profile coannular jet. The measurements were made inside an anechoic chamber and forward flight was simulated with an open jet surrounding a coannular nozzle. The diameters of the center and the annular nozzles were 1.27 cm and 2.03 cm, respectively. The open jet wind tunnel was 17.1 cm in diameter and could be operated at speeds up to 150 m/sec. Noise measurements were made in the acoustic far field at several spherical angles ranging from 20 deg to 120 deg relative to the jet axis. Flow through the center jet decreased the noise radiated by the annular jet. The addition of forward velocity further decreased the noise, and the two noise reductions seem to be additive. Measurements of the mean velocity profile demonstrate that forward flight reduced the growth rate of the high speed annular jet, and that center flow reduced the rate of merging of the annular jet.

Petersen, R. A.↗

Low flight speed acoustic results for a supersonic inlet with auxiliary inlet doors

A model supersonic inlet with auxiliary inlet doors and bounday layer bleeds was acoustically tested in simulated low speed flight up to Mach 0.2 in the NASA Lewis 9x15 Anechoic Wind Tunnel and statically in the NASA Lewis Anechoic Chamber. A JT8D refan model was used as the noise source. Data were also taken for a CTOL inlet and for an annular inlet with simulated centerbody support struts. Inlet operation with open auxiliary doors increased the blade passage tone by about 10 dB relative to the closed door configuration although noise radiation was primarily through the main inlet rather than the doors. Numerous strong spikes in the noise spectra were associated with the bleed system, and were strongly affected by the centerbody location. The supersonic inlet appeared to suppress multiple pure tone (MPT) generation at the fan source. Inlet length and the presence of support struts were shown not to cause this MPT suppression.

Woodward, R. P.↗