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At least 91 records · Page 5

Experimental validation study of an analytical model of discrete frequency sound propagation in closed-test-section wind tunnels

The principal objective is to assess the adequacy of linear acoustic theory with an impedence wall boundary condition to model the detailed sound field of an acoustic source in a duct. Measurements and calculations are compared of a simple acoustic source in a rectangular concrete duct lined with foam on the walls and anechoic end terminations. Measurement of acoustic pressure for twelve wave numbers provides variation in frequency and absorption characteristics of the duct walls. Close to the source, where the interference of wall reflections is minimal, correlation is very good. Away from the source, correlation degrades, especially for the lower frequencies. Sensitivity studies show little effect on the predicted results for changes in impedance boundary condition values, source location, measurement location, temperature, and source model for variations spanning the expected measurement error.

Mosher, Marianne↗

Extension of DAMAS Phased Array Processing for Spatial Coherence Determination (DAMAS-C)

The present study reports a new development of the DAMAS microphone phased array processing methodology that allows the determination and separation of coherent and incoherent noise source distributions. In 2004, a Deconvolution Approach for the Mapping of Acoustic Sources (DAMAS) was developed which decoupled the array design and processing influence from the noise being measured, using a simple and robust algorithm. In 2005, three-dimensional applications of DAMAS were examined. DAMAS has been shown to render an unambiguous quantitative determination of acoustic source position and strength. However, an underlying premise of DAMAS, as well as that of classical array beamforming methodology, is that the noise regions under study are distributions of statistically independent sources. The present development, called DAMAS-C, extends the basic approach to include coherence definition between noise sources. The solutions incorporate cross-beamforming array measurements over the survey region. While the resulting inverse problem can be large and the iteration solution computationally demanding, it solves problems no other technique can approach. DAMAS-C is validated using noise source simulations and is applied to airframe flap noise test results.

Brooks, Thomas F.↗

Test of acoustic tone source and propulsion performance of C8A Buffalo suppressor nozzle

Results are presented for a static acoustic and propulsion performance ground test conducted at the Boeing hot nozzle facility on the C8A Buffalo noise suppressor nozzle. Various methods to remove a nozzle-associated 2000-Hz tone are evaluated. Results of testing this rectangular-array lobed nozzle for propulsion performance and acoustic directivity are reported. Recommendations for future nozzle modifications and further testing are included. Appendix A contains the test plan. Appendix B presents the test log. Appendix C contains plots of the one-third octave sound pressure levels recorded during the test. Appendix D describes the acoustic data recording and reduction systems. The performance data is tabulated in Appendix E.

Marrs, C. C.↗

Evaluation of discrete frequency sound in closed-test-section wind tunnels

The principal objective of this study is to assess the adequacy of linear acoustic theory with an impedance wall boundary condition for modeling the detailed sound field of an acoustic source in a duct. This study compares measurements and calculations of a simple acoustic source in a rectangular concrete duct lined with foam on the walls and anechoic end terminations. Measuring acoustic pressure for 12 wave numbers provides variation in frequency and absorption characteristics of the duct walls. The cases in this study contain low frequencies and low wall absorptions corresponding to measurements of low-frequency helicopter noise in a lined wind tunnel. This regime is particularly difficult to measure in wind tunnels due to high levels of the reverberant field relatively close to the source. Close to the source, where the interference of wall reflections is minimal, correlation is very good. Away from the source, correlation degrades, especially for the lower frequencies. Sensitivity studies show little effect on the predicted results for changes in impedance boundary condition values, source location, measurement location, temperature, and source model for variations spanning the expected measurement error.

Mosher, Marianne↗

Noise Sources in a Low-Reynolds-Number Turbulent Jet at Mach 0.9

The mechanisms of sound generation in a Mach 0.9, Reynolds number 3600 turbulent jet are investigated by direct numerical simulation. Details of the numerical method are briefly outlined and results are validated against an experiment at the same flow conditions. Lighthill's theory is used to define a nominal acoustic source in the jet, and a numerical solution of Lighthill's equation is compared to the simulation to verify the computational procedures. The acoustic source is Fourier transformed in the axial coordinate and time and then filtered in order to identify and separate components capable of radiating to the far field. This procedure indicates that the peak radiating component of the source is coincident with neither the peak of the full unfiltered source nor that of the turbulent kinetic energy. The phase velocities of significant components range from approximately 5% to 50% of the ambient sound speed which calls into question the commonly made assumption that the noise sources convect at a single velocity. Space-time correlations demonstrate that the sources are not acoustically compact in the streamwise direction and that the portion of the source that radiates at angles greater than 45 deg. is stationary. Filtering non-radiating wavenumber components of the source at single frequencies reveals that a simple modulated wave forms for the source, as might be predicted by linear stability analysis. At small angles from the jet axis the noise from these modes is highly directional, better described by an exponential than a standard Doppler factor.

Freund, Jonathan B.↗

A noise source identification technique using an inverse Helmholtz integral equation method

A technique is developed which utilizes numerical models and field pressure information to characterize acoustic fields and identify acoustic sources. The numerical models are based on boundary element numerical procedures. Either pressure, velocity, or passive boundary conditions, in the form of impedance boundary conditions, may be imposed on the numerical model. Alternatively, if no boundary information is known, a boundary condition can be left unspecified. Field pressure data may be specified to overdetermine the numerical problem. The problem is solved numerically for the complete sound field from which the acoustic sources may be determined. The model can then be used to idenfify acoustic intensity paths in the field. The solution can be modified and the model used to evaluate design alternatives. In this investigation the method is tested analytically and verified. In addition, the sensitivity of the method to random and bias error in the input data is demonstrated.

Gardner, B. K.↗

Acoustic suspension system

An acoustic levitation system is described, with single acoustic source and a small reflector to stably levitate a small object while the object is processed as by coating or heating it. The system includes a concave acoustic source which has locations on opposite sides of its axis that vibrate towards and away from a focal point to generate a converging acoustic field. A small reflector is located near the focal point, and preferably slightly beyond it, to create an intense acoustic field that stably supports a small object near the reflector. The reflector is located about one-half wavelength from the focal point and is concavely curved to a radius of curvature (L) of about one-half the wavelength, to stably support an object one-quarter wavelength (N) from the reflector.

Lee, M. C.↗

Vehicular sources in acoustic propagation experiments

One of the most important uses of acoustic propagation models lies in the area of detection and tracking of vehicles. Propagation models are used to compute transmission losses in performance prediction models and to analyze the results of past experiments. Vehicles can also provide the means for cost effective experiments to measure acoustic propagation conditions over significant ranges. In order to properly correlate the information provided by the experimental data and the propagation models, the following issues must be taken into consideration: the phenomenology of the vehicle noise sources must be understood and characterized; the vehicle's location or 'ground truth' must be accurately reproduced and synchronized with the acoustic data; and sufficient meteorological data must be collected to support the requirements of the propagation models. The experimental procedures and instrumentation needed to carry out propagation experiments are discussed. Illustrative results are presented for two cases. First, a helicopter was used to measure propagation losses at a range of 1 to 10 Km. Second, a heavy diesel-powered vehicle was used to measure propagation losses in the 300 to 2200 m range.

Prado, Gervasio↗

Experimental assessment of theory for refraction of sound by a shear layer

The refraction angle and amplitude changes associated with sound transmission through a circular, open-jet shear layer were studied in a 0.91 m diameter open jet acoustic research tunnel. Free stream Mach number was varied from 0.1 to 0.4. Good agreement between refraction angle correction theory and experiment was obtained over the test Mach number, frequency and angle measurement range for all on-axis acoustic source locations. For off-axis source positions, good agreement was obtained at a source-to-shear layer separation distance greater than the jet radius. Measureable differences between theory and experiment occurred at a source-to-shear layer separation distance less than one jet radius. A shear layer turbulence scattering experiment was conducted at 90 deg to the open jet axis for the same free stream Mach numbers and axial source locations used in the refraction study. Significant discrete tone spectrum broadening and tone amplitude changes were observed at open jet Mach numbers above 0.2 and at acoustic source frequencies greater than 5 kHz. More severe turbulence scattering was observed for downstream source locations.

Schlinker, R. H.↗

The Use of Structural-Acoustic Techniques to Assess Potential Structural Damage From Sonic Booms

The potential impact of supersonic operations includes structural damage from the sonic boom overpressure. This paper describes a study of how structural-acoustic modeling and testing techniques may be used to assess the potential for such damage in the absence of actual flyovers. Procedures are described whereby transfer functions relating structural response to sonic boom signature may be obtained with a stationary acoustic source and appropriate data processing. Further, by invoking structural-acoustic reciprocity, these transfer functions may also be acquired by measuring the radiated sound from the structure under a mechanical drive. The approach is based on the fundamental assumption of linearity, both with regard to the (acoustic) propagation of the boom in the vicinity of the structure and to the structure's response. Practical issues revolve around acoustic far field and source directivity requirements. The technique was implemented on a specially fabricated test structure at Edwards AFB, CA with the support of Wyle Laboratories, Inc. Blank shots from a cannon served as our acoustic source and taps from an instrumented hammer generated the mechanical drive. Simulated response functions were constructed. Results of comparisons with corresponding measurements recorded during dedicated supersonic flyovers with F-15 aircraft are presented for a number of sensor placements.

Garrelick, Joel↗

Jet noise source modification due to forward flight

The effects of forward flight on the turbulence characteristics of a jet in a co-flowing stream have been determined for a 2.22 inch circular jet in a 36 inch free jet wind tunnel. The nozzle exit velocity was 400 ft/sec, and the tunnel velocity was set at 0, 40, 120 and 200 ft/sec. Measurements of flow properties including mean velocity, turbulence intensity and spectra, convection velocity, integral length scale, and convected integral time scale were carried out using two linearized hot wires. Results were used to predict changes due to flight in the jet acoustic sources. The noise reductions for a cold jet with a velocity of 1000 ft/sec, due to the change in acoustic sources in flight, agreed well at all angles with measured noise reductions.

Larson, R. S.↗

Generation and Radiation of Acoustic Waves from a 2-D Shear Layer using the CE/SE Method

In the present work, the generation and radiation of acoustic waves from a 2-D shear layer problem is considered. An acoustic source inside of a 2-D jet excites an instability wave in the shear layer, resulting in sound Mach radiation. The numerical solution is obtained by solving the Euler equations using the space time conservation element and solution element (CE/SE) method. Linearization is achieved through choosing a small acoustic source amplitude. The Euler equations are nondimensionalized as instructed in the problem statement. All other conditions are the same except that the Crocco's relation has a slightly different form. In the following, after a brief sketch of the CE/SE method, the numerical results for this problem are presented.

Loh, Ching Y.↗

Acoustical evaluation of the NASA Lewis 9 by 15 foot low speed wind tunnel

The test section of the NASA Lewis 9- by 15-Foot Low Speed Wind Tunnel was acoustically treated to allow the measurement of acoustic sources located within the tunnel test section under simulated free field conditions. The treatment was designed for high sound absorption at frequencies above 250 Hz and to withstand tunnel airflow velocities up to 0.2 Mach. Evaluation tests with no tunnel airflow were conducted in the test section to assess the performance of the installed treatment. This performance would not be significantly affected by low speed airflow. Time delay spectrometry tests showed that interference ripples in the incident signal resulting from reflections occurring within the test section average from 1.7 dB to 3.2 dB wide over a 500 to 5150 Hz frequency range. Late reflections, from upstream and downstream of the test section, were found to be insignificant at the microphone measuring points. For acoustic sources with low directivity characteristics, decay with distance measurements in the test section showed that incident free field behavior can be measured on average with an accuracy of +/- 1.5 dB or better at source frequencies from 400 Hz to 10 kHz. The free field variations are typically much smaller with an omnidirectional source.

Dahl, Milo D.↗

Location of Sources of Radiation Using a Weighted Hyperbolic Technique

The specific problem objective was to locate the sources of radiated electric field from lightning using an overdetermined set of measurements of time-of-arrival. A similar problem exists for epicentral sources in earthquake location, acoustic sources of thunder, and terrestrial navigation using LORAN and GPS.

Thomson, E. M.↗

Active Control of Inlet Noise on the JT15D Turbofan Engine

This report presents the key results obtained by the Vibration and Acoustics Laboratories at Virginia Tech over the year from November 1997 to December 1998 on the Active Noise Control of Turbofan Engines research project funded by NASA Langley Research Center. The concept of implementing active noise control techniques with fuselage-mounted error sensors is investigated both analytically and experimentally. The analytical part of the project involves the continued development of an advanced modeling technique to provide prediction and design guidelines for application of active noise control techniques to large, realistic high bypass engines of the type on which active control methods are expected to be applied. Results from the advanced analytical model are presented that show the effectiveness of the control strategies, and the analytical results presented for fuselage error sensors show good agreement with the experimentally observed results and provide additional insight into the control phenomena. Additional analytical results are presented for active noise control used in conjunction with a wavenumber sensing technique. The experimental work is carried out on a running JT15D turbofan jet engine in a test stand at Virginia Tech. The control strategy used in these tests was the feedforward Filtered-X LMS algorithm. The control inputs were supplied by single and multiple circumferential arrays of acoustic sources equipped with neodymium iron cobalt magnets mounted upstream of the fan. The reference signal was obtained from an inlet mounted eddy current probe. The error signals were obtained from a number of pressure transducers flush-mounted in a simulated fuselage section mounted in the engine test cell. The active control methods are investigated when implemented with the control sources embedded within the acoustically absorptive material on a passively-lined inlet. The experimental results show that the combination of active control techniques with fuselage-mounted error sensors and passive control techniques is an effective means of reducing radiated noise from turbofan engines. Strategic selection of the location of the error transducers is shown to be effective for reducing the radiation towards particular directions in the farfield. An analytical model is used to predict the behavior of the control system and to guide the experimental design configurations, and the analytical results presented show good agreement with the experimentally observed results.

Smith, Jerome P.↗

The Effects of Surfaces on the Aerodynamics and Acoustics of Jet Flows

Aircraft noise mitigation is an ongoing challenge for the aeronautics research community. In response to this challenge, low-noise aircraft concepts have been developed that exhibit situations where the jet exhaust interacts with an airframe surface. Jet flows interacting with nearby surfaces manifest a complex behavior in which acoustic and aerodynamic characteristics are altered. In this paper, the variation of the aerodynamics, acoustic source, and far-field acoustic intensity are examined as a large at plate is positioned relative to the nozzle exit. Steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes solutions are examined to study the aerodynamic changes in the field-variables and turbulence statistics. The mixing noise model of Tam and Auriault is used to predict the noise produced by the jet. To validate both the aerodynamic and the noise prediction models, results are compared with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and free-field acoustic data respectively. The variation of the aerodynamic quantities and noise source are examined by comparing predictions from various jet and at plate configurations with an isolated jet. To quantify the propulsion airframe aeroacoustic installation effects on the aerodynamic noise source, a non-dimensional number is formed that contains the flow-conditions and airframe installation parameters.

Smith, Matthew J.↗

Rotor blade-vortex interaction impulsive noise source identification and correlation with rotor wake predictions

An acoustic source localization scheme applicable to noncompact moving sources is developed and applied to the blade-vortex interaction (BVI) noise data of a 40-percent scale BO-105 model rotor. A generalized rotor wake code is employed to predict possible VBI locations on the rotor disk and is found quite useful in interpreting the acoustic localization results. The highly varying directivity patterns of different BVI impulses generated at the same test condition are explained by both the localization results and predicted tip vortex trajectories. The effects of rotor tip-path-plane angle and advance ratio on the BVI source positions is studied. Decreasing tip-path-plane angle (at constant advance ratio) moves the general interaction region upwind on the rotor disk, significantly changing the interaction geometry. Increasing advance ratio (at constant tip-path-plane angle) shifts the general source region downwind on the rotor disk with the increased convection of the vortices until about 60 deg azimuth, where the BVI sources appear to become acoustically less effective. The region of strongest BVI sources lies between 60 and 70 deg azimuth and 80 and 90 percent radius for the moderate range of advance ratios studied.

Splettstoesser, W. R.↗