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Brentner, Kenneth S.

Publications and source records attributed to Brentner, Kenneth S..

At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1997

A Superior Kirchhoff Method for Aeroacoustic Noise Prediction: The Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings Equation

The prediction of aeroacoustic noise is important; all new aircraft must meet noise certification requirements. Local noise standards can be even more stringent. The NASA noise reduction goal is to reduce perceived noise levels by a factor of two in 10 years. The objective of this viewgraph presentation is to demonstrate the superiority of the FW-H approach over the Kirchoff method for aeroacoustics, both analytically and numerically.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Supersonic Quadrupole Noise Theory for High-Speed Helicopter Rotors

High-speed helicopter rotor impulsive noise prediction is an important problem of aeroacoustics. The deterministic quadrupoles have been shown to contribute significantly to high-speed impulsive (HSI) noise of rotors, particularly when the phenomenon of delocalization occurs. At high rotor-tip speeds, some of the quadrupole sources lie outside the sonic circle and move at supersonic speed. Brentner has given a formulation suitable for efficient prediction of quadrupole noise inside the sonic circle. In this paper, we give a simple formulation based on the acoustic analogy that is valid for both subsonic and supersonic quadrupole noise prediction. Like the formulation of Brentner, the model is exact for an observer in the far field and in the rotor plane and is approximate elsewhere. We give the full analytic derivation of this formulation in the paper. We present the method of implementation on a computer for supersonic quadrupoles using marching cubes for constructing the influence surface (Sigma surface) of an observer space- time variable (x; t). We then present several examples of noise prediction for both subsonic and supersonic quadrupoles. It is shown that in the case of transonic flow over rotor blades, the inclusion of the supersonic quadrupoles improves the prediction of the acoustic pressure signature. We show the equivalence of the new formulation to that of Brentner for subsonic quadrupoles. It is shown that the regions of high quadrupole source strength are primarily produced by the shock surface and the flow over the leading edge of the rotor. The primary role of the supersonic quadrupoles is to increase the width of a strong acoustic signal.

Farassat, F.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Helicopter Rotor Noise Prediction: Background, Current Status, and Future Direction

Helicopter noise prediction is increasingly important. The purpose of this viewgraph presentation is to: 1) Put into perspective the recent progress; 2) Outline current prediction capabilities; 3) Forecast direction of future prediction research; 4) Identify rotorcraft noise prediction needs. The presentation includes an historical perspective, a description of governing equations, and the current status of source noise prediction.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Numerical Algorithms for Acoustic Integrals - The Devil is in the Details

The accurate prediction of the aeroacoustic field generated by aerospace vehicles or nonaerospace machinery is necessary for designers to control and reduce source noise. Powerful computational aeroacoustic methods, based on various acoustic analogies (primarily the Lighthill acoustic analogy) and Kirchhoff methods, have been developed for prediction of noise from complicated sources, such as rotating blades. Both methods ultimately predict the noise through a numerical evaluation of an integral formulation. In this paper, we consider three generic acoustic formulations and several numerical algorithms that have been used to compute the solutions to these formulations. Algorithms for retarded-time formulations are the most efficient and robust, but they are difficult to implement for supersonic-source motion. Collapsing-sphere and emission-surface formulations are good alternatives when supersonic-source motion is present, but the numerical implementations of these formulations are more computationally demanding. New algorithms - which utilize solution adaptation to provide a specified error level - are needed.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1996

An efficient and robust method for predicting helicopter rotor high-speed impulsive noise

A new formulation for the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings quadrupole source, which is valid for a far-field in-plane observer, is presented. The far-field approximation is new and unique in that no further approximation of the quadrupole source strength is made and integrands with r(exp -2) and r(exp -3) dependence are retained. This paper focuses on the development of a retarded-time formulation in which time derivatives are analytically taken inside the integrals to avoid unnecessary computational work when the observer moves with the rotor. The new quadrupole formulation is similar to Farassat's thickness and loading formulation 1A. Quadrupole noise prediction is carried out in two parts: a preprocessing stage in which the previously computed flow field is integrated in the direction normal to the rotor disk, and a noise computation stage in which quadrupole surface integrals are evaluated for a particular observer position. Preliminary predictions for hover and forward flight agree well with experimental data. The method is robust and requires computer resources comparable to thickness and loading noise prediction.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1996

A Comparison of Computational Aeroacoustic Prediction Methods for Transonic Rotor Noise

This paper compares two methods for predicting transonic rotor noise for helicopters in hover and forward flight. Both methods rely on a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution as input to predict the acoustic near and far fields. For this work, the same full-potential rotor code has been used to compute the CFD solution for both acoustic methods. The first method employs the acoustic analogy as embodied in the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings (FW-H) equation, including the quadrupole term. The second method uses a rotating Kirchhoff formulation. Computed results from both methods are compared with one other and with experimental data for both hover and advancing rotor cases. The results are quite good for all cases tested. The sensitivity of both methods to CFD grid resolution and to the choice of the integration surface/volume is investigated. The computational requirements of both methods are comparable; in both cases these requirements are much less than the requirements for the CFD solution.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The personal aircraft: Status and issues

Paper summarizes the status of personal air transportation with emphasis upon VTOL and converticar capability. The former obviates the need for airport operations for personal aircraft whereas the latter provides both ground and air capability in the same vehicle. Fully automatic operation, ATC and navigation is stressed along with consideration of acoustic, environmental and cost issues.

Anders, Scott G.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Sensitivity of acoustic predictions to variation of input parameters

Rotor noise prediction codes predict the thickness and loading noise produced by a helicopter rotor, given the blade motion, rotor operating conditions, and fluctuating force distribution over the blade surface. However, the criticality of these various inputs, and their respective effects on the predicted acoustic field, have never been fully addressed. This paper examines the importance of these inputs, and the sensitivity of the acoustic predicitions to a variation of each parameter. The effects of collective and cyclic pitch, as well as coning and cyclic flapping, are presented. Blade loading inputs are examined to determine the necessary spatial and temporal resolution, as well as the importance of the chordwise distribution. The acoustic predictions show regions in the acoustic field where significant errors occur when simplified blade motions or blade loadings are used. An assessment of the variation in the predicted acoustic field is balanced by a consideration of Central Processing Unit (CPU) time necessary for the various approximations.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Energy considerations in computational aeroacoustics

A finite-volume multistage time-stepping Euler code is used to investigate the use of CFD algorithms for the direct calculation of acoustics. The 2D compressible inviscid flow about an accelerating or decelerating circular cylinder is used as a model problem. The time evolution of the energy transfer from the cylinder to the fluid, as the cylinder is moved from rest to some nonnegligible velocity, is clearly seen. By examining the temporal and spatial characteristics of the numerical solution, a distinction can be made between the propagating acoustic energy, the convecting energy associated with the entropy change in the fluid, and the energy contained in the local aerodynamic field. Systematic variation of the cylinder acceleration shows that the radiated acoustic energy depends strongly upon the rate of acceleration or deceleration. The computational grid has a large effect on the ratio of acoustic energy to nonphysical entropy associated energy, while the role of the explicit artificial viscosity seems to be of second order. The entropy term was nearly negligible in all cases the cylinder was started slowly.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1992

1991-92 AHS Technical Committee highlights - Acoustics

Progress made in 1991-92 in rotorcraft noise technology is reviewed. Flight testing of the SV-15 Tiltrotor Research Aircraft fitted with Advanced Technology Blades, noise prediction research conducted at NASA Langley, and noise reduction studies which have demonstrated significant noise reduction using higher harmonic control are discussed.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Helicopter noise prediction - The current status and future direction

The paper takes stock of the progress, assesses the current prediction capabilities, and forecasts the direction of future helicopter noise prediction research. The acoustic analogy approach, specifically, theories based on the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equations, are the most widely used for deterministic noise sources. Thickness and loading noise can be routinely predicted given good plane motion and blade loading inputs. Blade-vortex interaction noise can also be predicted well with measured input data, but prediction of airloads with the high spatial and temporal resolution required for BVI is still difficult. Current semiempirical broadband noise predictions are useful and reasonably accurate. New prediction methods based on a Kirchhoff formula and direct computation appear to be very promising, but are currently very demanding computationally.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Sensitivity of acoustic predictions to variation of input parameters

The noise prediction code WOPWOP predicts the thickness and loading noise produced by a helicopter rotor, given the blade motion, rotor operating conditions, and fluctuating force distribution over the blade surface. However, the criticality of these various inputs, and their respective effects on the predicted acoustic field, have never been fully addressed. This paper examines the importance of these inputs, and the sensitivity of the acoustic predictions to a variation of each parameter. The effects of collective and cyclic pitch, as well as coning and flapping, are presented. Blade loading inputs are examined to determine the necessary spatial and temporal resolution, as well as the importance of the cordwise distribution. The acoustic predictions show regions in the acoustic field where significant errors occur when simplified blade motions or blade loadings are used. An assessment of the variation in the predicted acoustic field is balanced by a consideration of CPU time necessary for the various approximations.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The influence of quadrupole sources in the boundary layer and wake of a blade on helicopter rotor noise

It is presently noted that, for an observer in or near the plane containing a helicopter rotor disk, and in the far field, part of the volume quadrupole sources, and the blade and wake surface quadrupole sources, completely cancel out. This suggests a novel quadrupole source description for the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation which retain quadrupoles with axes parallel to the rotor disk; in this case, the volume and shock surface sourse terms are dominant.

Farassat, F.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Using finite volume methods for aeroacoustics

This paper is concerned with the application of unsteady finite volume methods to the numerical calculation of aeroacoustic problems. Some discussion is made of how the acoustic analogy of Lighthill has led to a separation between the calculation of acoustic source, or flow, and the subsequent sound field. It is pointed out that for transonic flow this separation is not necessarily useful. The example problem of an impulsively started cylinder is given for speed of Mach .1 and .5. In the Mach .5 case a strong shock is followed as it develops. A further example of the cylinder stopping impulsively is given as well. MacCormack's explicit predictor-corrector method is used for all the examples.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The exact calculation of quadrupole sources for some incompressible flows

This paper is concerned with the application of the acoustic analogy of Lighthill to the acoustic and aerodynamic problems associated with moving bodies. The Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation, which is an interpretation of the acoustic analogy for sound generation by moving bodies, manipulates the source terms into surface and volume sources. Quite often in practice the volume sources, or quadrupoles, are neglected for various reasons. Recently, Farassat, Long and others have attempted to use the FW-H equation with the quadrupole source and neglected to solve for the surface pressure on the body. The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of the quadrupole source to the acoustic pressure and body surface pressure for some problems for which the exact solution is known. The inviscid, incompressible, 2-D flow, calculated using the velocity potential, is used to calculate the individual contributions of the various surface and volume source terms in the FW-H equation. The relative importance of each of the sources is then assessed.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1987

A prediction of helicopter rotor discrete frequency noise for three scale models using a new acoustics program

A new computer program which uses Farassat's most advanced subsonic time domain formulation has been written to predict helicopter rotor discrete frequency noise. A brief description of the program, WOPWOP, is followed by a comparison of predicted and experimentally measured acoustic pressure and spectra for a 1/4 scale UH-1 model rotor blade and a 1/7 scale OLS (AH-1G) model rotor blade. The C81 computer program was used to predict the spanwise loading on the rotor for aerodynamic input into the acoustic prediction. Comparisons are made for different flight conditions and microphone locations with good results. In general the acoustic pressure is underpredicted. The acoustic predictions for a tapered rotor blade and predictions for microphones well below the tip path plane show less underprediction. Finally, in-plane motion of the rotor blade is shown to significantly affect the peak-to-peak amplitude of the acoustic pressure for high advancing tip Mach numbers.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗
NASA NTRS1987

The uses and abuses of the acoustic analogy in helicopter rotor noise prediction

The generation of noise by helicopter rotor blades is considered theoretically, reviewing recent analyses based on the acoustic analogy (where the effect of fluid motion is replaced by fictitious sources in an undisturbed fluid). The fundamental principles of the acoustic approach are explained and illustrated with diagrams; the governing Ffowcs-Williams/Hawkings equations are written with a reformulated quadrupole term; and the directivity of noise produced (1) by regions with steep gradients (such as shock surfaces) and (2) by boundary-layer quadrupoles (tip-vortex and blade wakes) is shown to be the same as that of thickness noise. The need to include both (1) and (2) in acoustic-analogy computations is indicated.

Farassat, F.↗