Aspects of investigating STOL noise using large-scale wind-tunnel models.
The applicability of the NASA Ames 40- by 80-foot wind tunnel for acoustic research on STOL concepts has been investigated. The acoustic characteristics of the wind-tunnel test section have been studied with calibrated acoustic sources. Acoustic characteristics of several large-scale STOL models have been studied in both the free-field and wind-tunnel acoustic environments. The results of these studies indicate that the acoustic characteristics of large-scale STOL models can be measured in the wind tunnel if the test section acoustic environment and model acoustic similitude are taken into consideration. The reverberant field of the test section must be determined with an acoustically similar noise source. A directional microphone, a phased array of microphones, and extrapolation of near-field data to far-field are some of the techniques being explored as possible solutions to the directivity loss in a reverberant field. The model sound pressure levels must be of sufficient magnitude to be distinguishible from the wind-tunnel background noise.