Engineering topics

Watson, Willie R.

Publications and source records attributed to Watson, Willie R..

At least 37 records · Page 2

NASA NTRS2006

Further Investigation of Acoustic Propagation Codes for Three-Dimensional Geometries

The ability to predict fan noise within complex three-dimensional aircraft engine nacelle geometries is a valuable tool in designing and assessing low-noise concepts. This work begins a systematic study to identify the areas of the design space in which propagation codes of varying fidelity may be used effectively to provide efficient design and assessment. An efficient lower-fidelity code is used in conjunction with two higher-fidelity, more computationally intensive methods to solve benchmark problems of increasing complexity. The codes represent a small sampling of the current propagation codes available or under development. Results of this initial study indicate that the lower-fidelity code provides satisfactory results for cases involving low to moderate attenuation rates, whereas, the two higher-fidelity codes perform well across the range of problems.

Nark, Douglas M.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Comparison of a Convected Helmholtz and Euler Model for Impedance Eduction in Flow

Impedances educed from a well-tested convected Helmholtz model are compared to that of a recently developed linearized Euler model using two ceramic test liners under the assumed conditions or uniform flow and a plane wave source. The convected Helmholtz model is restricted to uniform mean flow whereas the linearized Euler model can account for the effect or the shear layer. Test data to educe the impedance is acquired from measurements obtained in the NASA Langley Research Center Grazing Incidence Tube for mean flow Mach numbers ranging from 0.0 to 0.5 and source frequencies ranging from 0.5 kHz to 3.0 kHz. The unknown impedance of the liner b educed by judiciously choo~ingth e impedance via an optimization method to match the measured acoustic pressure on the wall opposite the test liner. Results are presented on four spatial grids using three different optimization methods (contour deformation, Davidon-Fletcher Powell, and the Genetic Algorithm). All three optimization methods converge to the same impedance when used with the same model and to nearly identical impedances when used on different models. h anomaly was observed only at 0.5 kHz for high mean flow speeds. The anomaly is likely due to the use of measured data in a flow regime where shear layer effects are important but are neglected in the math models. Consistency between the impedances educed using the two models provides confidence that the linearized Euler model is ready For application to more realistic flows, such as those containing shear layers.

Watson, Willie R.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Development of Experimental and Computational Aeroacoustic Tools for Advanced Liner Evaluation

Acoustic liners in aircraft engine nacelles suppress radiated noise. Therefore, as air travel increases, increasingly sophisticated tools are needed to maximize noise suppression. During the last 30 years, NASA has invested significant effort in development of experimental and computational acoustic liner evaluation tools. The Curved Duct Test Rig is a 152-mm by 381- mm curved duct that supports liner evaluation at Mach numbers up to 0.3 and source SPLs up to 140 dB, in the presence of user-selected modes. The Grazing Flow Impedance Tube is a 51- mm by 63-mm duct currently being fabricated to operate at Mach numbers up to 0.6 with source SPLs up to at least 140 dB, and will replace the existing 51-mm by 51-mm duct. Together, these test rigs allow evaluation of advanced acoustic liners over a range of conditions representative of those observed in aircraft engine nacelles. Data acquired with these test ducts are processed using three aeroacoustic propagation codes. Two are based on finite element solutions to convected Helmholtz and linearized Euler equations. The third is based on a parabolic approximation to the convected Helmholtz equation. The current status of these computational tools and their associated usage with the Langley test rigs is provided.

Jones, Michael G.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Parallel Domain Decomposition Formulation and Software for Large-Scale Sparse Symmetrical/Unsymmetrical Aeroacoustic Applications

The overall objectives of this research work are to formulate and validate efficient parallel algorithms, and to efficiently design/implement computer software for solving large-scale acoustic problems, arised from the unified frameworks of the finite element procedures. The adopted parallel Finite Element (FE) Domain Decomposition (DD) procedures should fully take advantages of multiple processing capabilities offered by most modern high performance computing platforms for efficient parallel computation. To achieve this objective. the formulation needs to integrate efficient sparse (and dense) assembly techniques, hybrid (or mixed) direct and iterative equation solvers, proper pre-conditioned strategies, unrolling strategies, and effective processors' communicating schemes. Finally, the numerical performance of the developed parallel finite element procedures will be evaluated by solving series of structural, and acoustic (symmetrical and un-symmetrical) problems (in different computing platforms). Comparisons with existing "commercialized" and/or "public domain" software are also included, whenever possible.

Nguyen, D. T.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Parallel Finite Element Domain Decomposition for Structural/Acoustic Analysis

A domain decomposition (DD) formulation for solving sparse linear systems of equations resulting from finite element analysis is presented. The formulation incorporates mixed direct and iterative equation solving strategics and other novel algorithmic ideas that are optimized to take advantage of sparsity and exploit modern computer architecture, such as memory and parallel computing. The most time consuming part of the formulation is identified and the critical roles of direct sparse and iterative solvers within the framework of the formulation are discussed. Experiments on several computer platforms using several complex test matrices are conducted using software based on the formulation. Small-scale structural examples are used to validate thc steps in the formulation and large-scale (l,000,000+ unknowns) duct acoustic examples are used to evaluate the ORIGIN 2000 processors, and a duster of 6 PCs (running under the Windows environment). Statistics show that the formulation is efficient in both sequential and parallel computing environmental and that the formulation is significantly faster and consumes less memory than that based on one of the best available commercialized parallel sparse solvers.

Nguyen, Duc T.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Benchmark Data for Evaluation of Aeroacoustic Propagation Codes With Grazing Flow

Increased understanding of the effects of acoustic treatment on the propagation of sound through commercial aircraft engine nacelles is a requirement for more efficient liner design. To this end, one of NASA s goals is to further the development of duct propagation and impedance reduction codes. A number of these codes have been developed over the last three decades. These codes are typically divided into two categories: (1) codes that use the measured complex acoustic pressure field to reduce the acoustic impedance of treatment that is positioned along the wall of the duct, and (2) codes that use the acoustic impedance of the treatment as input and compute the sound field throughout the duct. Clearly, the value of these codes is dependent upon the quality of the data used for their validation. Over the past two decades, data acquired in the NASA Langley Research Center Grazing Incidence Tube have been used by a number of researchers for comparison with their propagation codes. Many of these comparisons have been based upon Grazing Incidence Tube tests that were conducted to study specific liner technology components, and were incomplete for general propagation code validation. Thus, the objective of the current investigation is to provide a quality data set that can be used as a benchmark for evaluation of duct propagation and impedance reduction codes. In order to achieve this objective, two parallel efforts have been undertaken. The first of these is the development of an enhanced impedance eduction code that uses data acquired in the Grazing Incidence Tube. This enhancement is intended to place the benchmark data on as firm a foundation as possible. The second key effort is the acquisition of a comprehensive set of data selected to allow propagation code evaluations over a range of test conditions.

Jones, Michael G.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Status of Duct Liner Technology for Application to Aircraft Engine Nacelles

Grazing flows and high acoustic intensities impose unusual design requirements on acoustic liner treatments used in aircraft engine nacelles. Increased sound absorption efficiency (requiring increased accuracy of liner impedance specification) is particularly critical in the face of ever decreasing nacelle wall area available for liner treatments in modern, high-bypass ratio engines. This paper reviews the strategy developed at Langley Research Center for achieving a robust measurement technology that is crucial for validating impedance models for aircraft liners. Specifically, the paper describes the current status of computational and data acquisition technologies for reducing impedance in a flow duct. Comparisons of reduced impedances for a "validation liner" using 1980's and 2000's measurement technology are consistent, but show significant deviations (up to 0.5 c exclusive of liner anti-resonance region) from a first principles impedance prediction model as grazing flow centerline Mach numbers increase up to 0.5. The deviations, in part, are believed related to uncertainty in the choice of grazing flow parameters (e.g. cross-section averaged, core-flow averaged, or centerline Mach number?). Also, there may be an issue with incorporating the impedance discontinuities corresponding to the hard wall to liner interface (i.e. leading and trailing edge of test liner) within the discretized finite element model.

Parrott, Tony L.↗

NASA NTRS2004

An Investigation of the Flow Physics of Acoustic Liners by Direct Numerical Simulation

This report concentrates on reporting the effort and status of work done on three dimensional (3-D) simulation of a multi-hole resonator in an impedance tube. This work is coordinated with a parallel experimental effort to be carried out at the NASA Langley Research Center. The outline of this report is as follows : 1. Preliminary consideration. 2. Computation model. 3. Mesh design and parallel computing. 4. Visualization. 5. Status of computer code development. 1. Preliminary Consideration.

Watson, Willie R.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Design and Evaluation of Modifications to the NASA Langley Flow Impedance Tube

The need to minimize fan noise radiation from commercial aircraft engine nacelles continues to provide an impetus for developing new acoustic liner concepts. If the full value of such concepts is to be attained, an understanding of grazing flow effects is crucial. Because of this need for improved understanding of grazing flow effects, the NASA Langley Research Center Liner Physics Group has invested a large effort over the past decade into the development of a 2-D finite element method that characterizes wave propagation through a lined duct. The original test section in the Langley Grazing IncidenceTube was used to acquire data needed for implementation of this finite element method. This test section employed a stepper motor-driven axial-traversing bar, embedded in the wall opposite the test liner, to position a flush-mounted microphone at pre-selected locations. Complex acoustic pressure data acquired with this traversing microphone were used to educe the acoustic impedance of test liners using this 2-D finite element method and a local optimization technique. Results acquired in this facility have been extensively reported, and were compared with corresponding results from various U.S. aeroacoustics laboratories in the late 1990 s. Impedance data comparisons acquired from this multi-laboratory study suggested that it would be valuable to incorporate more realistic 3-D aeroacoustic effects into the impedance eduction methodology. This paper provides a description of modifications that have been implemented to facilitate studies of 3-D effects. The two key features of the modified test section are (1) the replacement of the traversing bar and its flush-mounted microphone with an array of 95 fixed-location microphones that are flush-mounted in all four walls of the duct, and (2) the inclusion of a suction device to modify the boundary layer upstream of the lined portion of the duct. The initial results achieved with the modified test section are provided in this report, and a comparison of these results with those achieved using the original test section is used to demonstrate that the data acquisition and analysis with the new test section can be confidently used for impedance eduction.

Jones, Michael G.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Application of NASA General-Purpose Solver to Large-Scale Computations in Aeroacoustics

Of several iterative and direct equation solvers evaluated previously for computations in aeroacoustics, the most promising was the NASA-developed General-Purpose Solver (winner of NASA's 1999 software of the year award). This paper presents detailed, single-processor statistics of the performance of this solver, which has been tailored and optimized for large-scale aeroacoustic computations. The statistics, compiled using an SGI ORIGIN 2000 computer with 12 Gb available memory (RAM) and eight available processors, are the central processing unit time, RAM requirements, and solution error. The equation solver is capable of solving 10 thousand complex unknowns in as little as 0.01 sec using 0.02 Gb RAM, and 8.4 million complex unknowns in slightly less than 3 hours using all 12 Gb. This latter solution is the largest aeroacoustics problem solved to date with this technique. The study was unable to detect any noticeable error in the solution, since noise levels predicted from these solution vectors are in excellent agreement with the noise levels computed from the exact solution. The equation solver provides a means for obtaining numerical solutions to aeroacoustics problems in three dimensions.

Watson, Willie R.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Validation of an Impedance Education Method in Flow

This paper reports results of a research effort to validate a method for educing the normal incidence impedance of a locally reacting liner, located in a grazing incidence, nonprogressive acoustic wave environment with flow. The results presented in this paper test the ability of the method to reproduce the measured normal incidence impedance of a solid steel plate and two soft test liners in a uniform flow. The test liners are known to be locally react- ing and exhibit no measurable amplitude-dependent impedance nonlinearities or flow effects. Baseline impedance spectra for these liners were therefore established from measurements in a conventional normal incidence impedance tube. A key feature of the method is the expansion of the unknown impedance function as a piecewise continuous polynomial with undetermined coefficients. Stewart's adaptation of the Davidon-Fletcher-Powell optimization algorithm is used to educe the normal incidence impedance at each Mach number by optimizing an objective function. The method is shown to reproduce the measured normal incidence impedance spectrum for each of the test liners, thus validating its usefulness for determining the normal incidence impedance of test liners for a broad range of source frequencies and flow Mach numbers. Nomenclature

Watson, Willie R.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Effects of Liner Geometry on Acoustic Impedance

Current aircraft engine nacelles typically contain acoustic liners consisting of perforated sheets bonded onto honeycomb cavities. Numerous models have been developed to predict the acoustic impedance of these liners in the presence of grazing flow, and to use that information with aeroacoustic propagation codes to assess nacelle liner noise suppression. Recent efforts have provided advances in impedance education methodologies that offer more accurate determinations of acoustic liner properties in the presence of grazing flow. The current report provides the results of a parametric study, in which a finite element method was used to assess the effects of variations of the following geometric parameters on liner impedance, with and without the presence of grazing flow: percent open area, sheet thickness, sheet thickness-to-hole diameter ratio and cavity depth. Normal incidence acoustic impedances were determined for eight acoustic liners, consisting of punched aluminum facesheets bonded to hexcell honeycomb cavities. Similar liners were tested in the NASA Langley Research Center grazing incidence tube to determine their response in the presence of grazing flow. The resultant data provide a quantitative assessment of the effects of these perforate, single-layer liner parameters on the acoustic impedance of the liner.

Jones, Michael G.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Comparison of Two Acoustic Waveguide Methods for Determining Liner Impedance

Acoustic measurements taken in a flow impedance tube are used to assess the relative accuracy of two waveguide methods for impedance eduction in the presence of grazing flow. The aeroacoustic environment is assumed to contain forward and backward-traveling acoustic waves, consisting of multiple modes, and uniform mean flow. Both methods require a measurement of the complex acoustic pressure profile over the length of the test liner. The Single Mode Method assumes that the sound pressure level and phase decay-rates of a single progressive mode can be extracted from this measured complex acoustic pressure profile. No a priori assumptions are made in the Finite Element. Method regarding the modal or reflection content in the measured acoustic pressure profile. The integrity of each method is initially demonstrated by how well their no-flow impedances match those acquired in a normal incidence impedance tube. These tests were conducted using ceramic tubular and conventional perforate liners. Ceramic tubular liners were included because of their impedance insensitivity to mean flow effects. Conversely, the conventional perforate liner was included because its impedance is known to be sensitive to mean flow velocity effects. Excellent comparisons between impedance values educed with the two waveguide methods in the absence of mean flow and the corresponding values educed with the normal incident impedance tube were observed. The two methods are then compared for mean flow Mach numbers up to 0.5, and are shown to give consistent results for both types of test liners. The quality of the results indicates that the Single Mode Method should be used when the measured acoustic pressure profile is clearly dominated by a single progressive mode, and the Finite Element Method should be used for all other cases.

Jones, Michael G.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Three-Dimensional Nacelle Aeroacoustics Code With Application to Impedance Education

A three-dimensional nacelle acoustics code that accounts for uniform mean flow and variable surface impedance liners is developed. The code is linked to a commercial version of the NASA-developed General Purpose Solver (for solution of linear systems of equations) in order to obtain the capability to study high frequency waves that may require millions of grid points for resolution. Detailed, single-processor statistics for the performance of the solver in rigid and soft-wall ducts are presented. Over the range of frequencies of current interest in nacelle liner research, noise attenuation levels predicted from the code were in excellent agreement with those predicted from mode theory. The equation solver is memory efficient, requiring only a small fraction of the memory available on modern computers. As an application, the code is combined with an optimization algorithm and used to reduce the impedance spectrum of a ceramic liner. The primary problem with using the code to perform optimization studies at frequencies above I1kHz is the excessive CPU time (a major portion of which is matrix assembly). The research recommends that research be directed toward development of a rapid sparse assembler and exploitation of the multiprocessor capability of the solver to further reduce CPU time.

Watson, Willie R.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Periodic Time-Domain Nonlocal Nonreflecting Boundary Conditions for Duct Acoustics

Periodic time-domain boundary conditions are formulated for direct numerical simulation of acoustic waves in ducts without flow. Well-developed frequency-domain boundary conditions are transformed into the time domain. The formulation is presented here in one space dimension and time; however, this formulation has an advantage in that its extension to variable-area, higher dimensional, and acoustically treated ducts is rigorous and straightforward. The boundary condition simulates a nonreflecting wave field in an infinite uniform duct and is implemented by impulse-response operators that are applied at the boundary of the computational domain. These operators are generated by convolution integrals of the corresponding frequency-domain operators. The acoustic solution is obtained by advancing the Euler equations to a periodic state with the MacCormack scheme. The MacCormack scheme utilizes the boundary condition to limit the computational space and preserve the radiation boundary condition. The success of the boundary condition is attributed to the fact that it is nonreflecting to periodic acoustic waves. In addition, transient waves can pass rapidly out of the solution domain. The boundary condition is tested for a pure tone and a multitone source in a linear setting. The effects of various initial conditions are assessed. Computational solutions with the boundary condition are consistent with the known solutions for nonreflecting wave fields in an infinite uniform duct.

Watson, Willie R.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Validation of a Numerical Method for Determining Liner Impedance

This paper reports the initial results of a test series to evaluate a method for determining the normal incidence impedance of a locally reacting acoustically absorbing liner, located on the lower wall of a duct in a grazing incidence, multi-modal, non-progressive acoustic wave environment without flow. This initial evaluation is accomplished by testing the methods' ability to converge to the known normal incidence impedance of a solid steel plate, and to the normal incidence impedance of an absorbing test specimen whose impedance was measured in a conventional normal incidence tube. The method is shown to converge to the normal incident impedance values and thus to be an adequate tool for determining the impedance of specimens in a grazing incidence, multi-modal, nonprogressive acoustic wave environment for a broad range of source frequencies.

Watson, Willie R.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Solution of the three-dimensional Helmholtz equation with nonlocal boundary conditions

The Helmholtz equation is solved within a three-dimensional rectangular duct with a nonlocal radiation boundary condition at the duct exit plane. This condition accurately models the acoustic admittance at an arbitrarily-located computational boundary plane. A linear system of equations is constructed with second-order central differences for the Helmholtz operator and second-order backward differences for both local admittance conditions and the gradient term in the nonlocal radiation boundary condition. The resulting matrix equation is large, sparse, and non-Hermitian. The size and structure of the matrix makes direct solution techniques impractical; as a result, a nonstationary iterative technique is used for its solution. The theory behind the nonstationary technique is reviewed, and numerical results are presented for radiation from both a point source and a planar acoustic source. The solutions with the nonlocal boundary conditions are invariant to the location of the computational boundary, and the same nonlocal conditions are valid for all solutions. The nonlocal conditions thus provide a means of minimizing the size of three-dimensional computational domains.

Hodge, Steve L.↗

NASA NTRS1995

A finite element propagation model for extracting normal incidence impedance in nonprogressive acoustic wave fields

A propagation model method for extracting the normal incidence impedance of an acoustic material installed as a finite length segment in a wall of a duct carrying a nonprogressive wave field is presented. The method recasts the determination of the unknown impedance as the minimization of the normalized wall pressure error function. A finite element propagation model is combined with a coarse/fine grid impedance plane search technique to extract the impedance of the material. Results are presented for three different materials for which the impedance is known. For each material, the input data required for the prediction scheme was computed from modal theory and then contaminated by random error. The finite element method reproduces the known impedance of each material almost exactly for random errors typical of those found in many measurement environments. Thus, the method developed here provides a means for determining the impedance of materials in a nonprogressirve wave environment such as that usually encountered in a commercial aircraft engine and most laboratory settings.

Watson, Willie R.↗