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Ffowcs Williams, J. E.

Publications and source records attributed to Ffowcs Williams, J. E..

Active suppression of compressor instabilities

A strategy is proposed for controlling aerodynamic instabilities which limit the useful range of both axial and centrifugal turbomachines. Both local and global instabilities (incipient rotating stall and surge) are analyzed. A theory is developed which shows how an additional disturbance, driven from real time data measured within the machine, can be generated so as to realize a device with characteristics fundamentally different from those of the turbomachine without control; for the particular compressor analyzed, the control led to a 20 percent increase in the extent of the stable operating range. The use of structural dynamics to enhance stability is also discussed.

Epstein, A. H.↗

Sound production in a moving stream

Jet noise is modeled by particle-attached quadrupoles convected with the velocity of the actual fluid but positioned near a hypothetical instability-free vortex sheet. The strength of each quadrupole is Lighthill's stress tensor per unit mass. The work of Mani (1976) has shown that this type of model agrees well with experiment, and the present work establishes some of the equivalent sources needed for an exact analogy. The instability waves of the shear layer, as they grow into turbulence, are heard as sound that builds up as a precursor of the main turbulence-driven field. The circular compact jet is examined in some detail, and it is found that when the jet is very light it can provide a waveguide in which the effects of source activity persist for some time but eventually leak out as sound. This interaction greatly distorts the free field characteristics of the turbulent sources, so that Reynolds-stress-induced waves have an intensity that scales with the fourth power of jet velocity.

Dowling, A. P.↗