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At least 433 records · Page 24

Noise of Internally Mixed Exhaust Systems With External Plug For Supersonic Transport Applications

Internally mixed exhaust systems produce more noise than would be expected from an equivalent fully mixed flow. This ‘excess noise’ has never been fully explained and has not been researched recently as it is not as much of a problem for high bypass-ratio exhaust systems. Commercial supersonic vehicles, however, will use more moderate bypass ratio engines. Their exhaust systems will also likely feature external plugs to improve boat tail angle for cruise performance. Thus the problem of excess noise will need to be addressed along with the impacts of having an external plug. Recently, acoustic tests of dual-stream jet flows from both internal and external plug nozzles have been conducted. Measurements of noise from flows with an axisymmetric splitter and lobed forced mixer were made. These measurements show the baseline ‘excess noise’ previously found in forced mixer exhaust systems, and show how this noise source differs depending upon the plug geometry. Background-oriented schlieren measurements acquired simultaneously document the differences in shock structures over the transonic flow regime tested. The far-field acoustic measurements indicate that an external plug can slightly reduce the mixing noise of the jet plume when the flow is completely mixed, e.g. when the core and bypass streams have the same temperature and the flow is a single-stream jet. However, when the flow is not fully mixed, e.g. the usual case of an internally mixed exhaust system, the plug seems to amplify the ‘excess noise’ associated with the mixer. This additional noise source presents a challenge for nozzle designers wanting to use internally mixed exhaust systems with external plug nozzles.

Jet noise↗

Aeroacoustics of Flight Vehicles: Theory and Practice. Volume 1: Noise Sources

Methodology recommended to evaluate aeroacoustic related problems is provided, and approaches to their solutions are suggested without extensive tables, nomographs, and derivations. Orientation is toward flight vehicles and emphasis is on underlying physical concepts. Theoretical, experimental, and applied aspects are covered, including the main formulations and comparisons of theory and experiment. The topics covered include: propeller and propfan noise, rotor noise, turbomachinery noise, jet noise classical theory and experiments, noise from turbulent shear flows, jet noise generated by large-scale coherent motion, airframe noise, propulsive lift noise, combustion and core noise, and sonic booms.

Propeller noise↗

An Analytical Investigation of Wing-Jet Interaction

The aerodynamic interaction between the wing and an inviscid jet with Mach number nonuniformity is formulated by using a two-vortex-sheet model for the jet. One of the vortex sheets accounts for the induced jet flow and the other the induced outer flow. No additional source distribution is needed for the jet at an angle of attack. The above problem is solved by satisfying the jet and wing tangency and the jet pressure-continuity conditions and using a quasi vortex lattice method for computing the induced flow field. The latter method is derived through theoretical consideration by properly accounting for singularities present in the equations and possesses the same simplicity and generality as the conventional vortex lattice method but has a better rate of numerical convergence. The resulting system of algebraic equations is solved by Purcell's vector method. The numerical formulation is first applied to the wing-slipstream interaction problem. Results for one centered-jet configuration are compared with those predicted by some existing theories.

Lan, E. C.↗

Sound attenuation by liners in a blown flap environment

Sound propagation through a hot wall-jet flow over an absorbing wall is studied. The radiated sound field subject to the influence of flow convection and refraction is evaluated, and the nature of acoustic attenuation attributable to a sound absorbing liner is determined. Using a two-dimensional model, the noise field under the aircraft is also determined, and a slug-flow model is used to describe the influence of flow, density, and temperature on acoustic sources in jets. Results show significant changes in the radiated source due to the interference phenomenon, and a good absorber has the potential of changing the sound pressure range of variation to unity. A liner is also found to increase or decrease sound pressure, depending on the frequency.

Parthasarathy, S. P.↗

Turbulence measurements in a complex flowfield using a crossed hot-wire

An X-wire probe was used to measure the time-mean and fluctuating velocities and shear stress in nonswirling nonreacting confined jet flows. Data were taken from an axisymmetric confined jet with an expansion ratio of 2 and an expansion angle of 90 deg, and from the same segment with a contraction nozzle. Velocity profiles developed faster in the confined jet than in the free jet, with the former experiencing higher turbulence levels and larger time-mean velocities. The X-wire is concluded to furnish more accurate results for the turbulent shear stress than a multioriented single-wire technique.

Lilley, D. G.↗

Development and application of computational aerothermodynamics flowfield computer codes

Research was performed in the area of computational modeling and application of hypersonic, high-enthalpy, thermo-chemical nonequilibrium flow (Aerothermodynamics) problems. A number of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) codes were developed and applied to simulate high altitude rocket-plume, the Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE), hypersonic base flow for planetary probes, the single expansion ramp model (SERN) connected with the National Aerospace Plane, hypersonic drag devices, hypersonic ramp flows, ballistic range models, shock tunnel facility nozzles, transient and steady flows in the shock tunnel facility, arc-jet flows, thermochemical nonequilibrium flows around simple and complex bodies, axisymmetric ionized flows of interest to re-entry, unsteady shock induced combustion phenomena, high enthalpy pulsed facility simulations, and unsteady shock boundary layer interactions in shock tunnels. Computational modeling involved developing appropriate numerical schemes for the flows on interest and developing, applying, and validating appropriate thermochemical processes. As part of improving the accuracy of the numerical predictions, adaptive grid algorithms were explored, and a user-friendly, self-adaptive code (SAGE) was developed. Aerothermodynamic flows of interest included energy transfer due to strong radiation, and a significant level of effort was spent in developing computational codes for calculating radiation and radiation modeling. In addition, computational tools were developed and applied to predict the radiative heat flux and spectra that reach the model surface.

Venkatapathy, Ethiraj↗

ATK Launch Vehicle (ALV-X1) Liftoff Acoustic Environments: Prediction vs. Measurement

The ATK Launch Vehicle (ALV-X1) provided an opportunity to measure liftoff acoustic noise data. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) engineers were interested in the ALV-X1 launch because the First Stage motor and launch pad conditions, including a relativity short deflector ducting, provide a potential analogue to future Ares I launches. This paper presents the measured liftoff acoustics on the vehicle and tower. Those measured results are compared to predictions based upon the method described in NASA SP-8072 "Acoustic Loads Generated by the Propulsion System" and the Vehicle Acoustic Environment Prediction Program (VAEPP) which was developed by MSFC acoustics engineers. One-third octave band sound pressure levels will be presented. This data is useful for the ALV-X1 in validating the pre-launch environments and loads predictions. Additionally, the ALV-X1 liftoff data can be scaled to define liftoff environments for the NASA Constellation program Ares vehicles. Vehicle liftoff noise is caused by the supersonic jet flow interaction with surrounding atmosphere or more simply, jet noise. As the vehicle's First Stage motor is ignited, an acoustic noise field is generated by the exhaust. This noise field persists due to the supersonic jet noise and reflections from the launch pad and tower, then changes as the vehicle begins to liftoff from the launch pad. Depending on launch pad and adjacent tower configurations, the liftoff noise is generally very high near the nozzle exit and decreases rapidly away from the nozzle. The liftoff acoustic time range of interest is typically 0 to 20 seconds after ignition. The exhaust plume thermo-fluid mechanics generates sound at approx.10 Hz to 20 kHz. Liftoff acoustic noise is usually the most severe dynamic environment for a launch vehicle or payload in the mid to high frequency range (approx.50 to 2000 Hz). This noise environment can induce high-level vibrations along the external surfaces of the vehicle and surrounding launch facility structures. The acoustic pressure fluctuations will induce severe vibrations in relatively large lightweight structures. Consequently, there is the potential for failure of the structure or attached electrical components. Due to these potential failures, the liftoff acoustic noise is one of the noise source inputs used to determine the vibro-acoustic qualification environment for a launch vehicle and its components.

Houston, Janice↗

Experimental and theoretical study of combustion jet ignition

A combustion jet ignition system was developed to generate turbulent jets of combustion products containing free radicals and to discharge them as ignition sources into a combustible medium. In order to understand the ignition and the inflammation processes caused by combustion jets, the studies of the fluid mechanical properties of turbulent jets with and without combustion were conducted theoretically and experimentally. Experiments using a specially designed igniter, with a prechamber to build up and control the stagnation pressure upstream of the orifice, were conducted to investigate the formation processes of turbulent jets of combustion products. The penetration speed of combustion jets has been found to be constant initially and then decreases monotonically as turbulent jets of combustion products travel closer to the wall. This initial penetration speed to combustion jets is proportional to the initial stagnation pressure upstream of the orifice for the same stoichiometric mixture. Computer simulations by Chorin's Random Vortex Method implemented with the flame propagation algorithm for the theoretical model of turbulent jets with and without combustion were performed to study the turbulent jet flow field. In the formation processes of the turbulent jets, the large-scale eddy structure of turbulence, the so-called coherent structure, dominates the entrainment and mixing processes. The large-scale eddy structure of turbulent jets in this study is constructed by a series of vortex pairs, which are organized in the form of a staggered array of vortex clouds generating local recirculation flow patterns.

Chen, D. Y.↗

Hybrid Reynolds-Averaged/Large-Eddy Simulations of a Coaxial Supersonic Free-Jet Experiment

Reynolds-averaged and hybrid Reynolds-averaged/large-eddy simulations have been applied to a supersonic coaxial jet flow experiment. The experiment was designed to study compressible mixing flow phenomenon under conditions that are representative of those encountered in scramjet combustors. The experiment utilized either helium or argon as the inner jet nozzle fluid, and the outer jet nozzle fluid consisted of laboratory air. The inner and outer nozzles were designed and operated to produce nearly pressure-matched Mach 1.8 flow conditions at the jet exit. The purpose of the computational effort was to assess the state-of-the-art for each modeling approach, and to use the hybrid Reynolds-averaged/large-eddy simulations to gather insight into the deficiencies of the Reynolds-averaged closure models. The Reynolds-averaged simulations displayed a strong sensitivity to choice of turbulent Schmidt number. The initial value chosen for this parameter resulted in an over-prediction of the mixing layer spreading rate for the helium case, but the opposite trend was observed when argon was used as the injectant. A larger turbulent Schmidt number greatly improved the comparison of the results with measurements for the helium simulations, but variations in the Schmidt number did not improve the argon comparisons. The hybrid Reynolds-averaged/large-eddy simulations also over-predicted the mixing layer spreading rate for the helium case, while under-predicting the rate of mixing when argon was used as the injectant. The primary reason conjectured for the discrepancy between the hybrid simulation results and the measurements centered around issues related to the transition from a Reynolds-averaged state to one with resolved turbulent content. Improvements to the inflow conditions were suggested as a remedy to this dilemma. Second-order turbulence statistics were also compared to their modeled Reynolds-averaged counterparts to evaluate the effectiveness of common turbulence closure assumptions.

Baurle, Robert A.↗

Performance characteristics of a variable-area vane nozzle for vectoring an ASTOVL exhaust jet up to 45 deg

Many conceptual designs for advanced short-takeoff, vertical landing (ASTOVL) aircraft need exhaust nozzles that can vector the jet to provide forces and moments for controlling the aircraft's movement or attitude in flight near the ground. A type of nozzle that can both vector the jet and vary the jet flow area is called a vane nozzle. Basically, the nozzle consists of parallel, spaced-apart flow passages formed by pairs of vanes (vanesets) that can be rotated on axes perpendicular to the flow. Two important features of this type of nozzle are the abilities to vector the jet rearward up to 45 degrees and to produce less harsh pressure and velocity footprints during vertical landing than does an equivalent single jet. A one-third-scale model of a generic vane nozzle was tested with unheated air at the NASA Lewis Research Center's Powered Lift Facility. The model had three parallel flow passages. Each passage was formed by a vaneset consisting of a long and a short vane. The longer vanes controlled the jet vector angle, and the shorter controlled the flow area. Nozzle performance for three nominal flow areas (basic and plus or minus 21 percent of basic area), each at nominal jet vector angles from -20 deg (forward of vertical) to +45 deg (rearward of vertical) are presented. The tests were made with the nozzle mounted on a model tailpipe with a blind flange on the end to simulate a closed cruise nozzle, at tailpipe-to-ambient pressure ratios from 1.8 to 4.0. Also included are jet wake data, single-vaneset vector performance for long/short and equal-length vane designs, and pumping capability. The pumping capability arises from the subambient pressure developed in the cavities between the vanesets, which could be used to aspirate flow from a source such as the engine compartment. Some of the performance characteristics are compared with characteristics of a single-jet nozzle previously reported.

Mcardle, Jack G.↗

Performance characteristics of a variable-area vane nozzle for vectoring an ASTOVL exhaust jet up to 45 deg

Many conceptual designs for advanced short-takeoff, vertical landing (ASTOVL) aircraft need exhaust nozzles that can vector the jet to provide forces and moments for controlling the aircraft's movement or attitude in flight near the ground. A type of nozzle that can both vector the jet and vary the jet flow area is called a vane nozzle. Basically, the nozzle consists of parallel, spaced-apart flow passages formed by pairs of vanes (vanesets) that can be rotated on axes perpendicular to the flow. Two important features of this type of nozzle are the abilities to vector the jet rearward up to 45 degrees and to produce less harsh pressure and velocity footprints during vertical landing than does an equivalent single jet. A one-third-scale model of a generic vane nozzle was tested with unheated air at the NASA Lewis Research Center's Powered Lift Facility. The model had three parallel flow passages. Each passage was formed by a vaneset consisting of a long and a short vane. The longer vanes controlled the jet vector angle, and the shorter controlled the flow area. Nozzle performance for three nominal flow areas (basic and plus or minus 21 percent of basic area), each at nominal jet vector angles from -20 deg (forward of vertical) to +45 deg (rearward of vertical) are presented. The tests were made with the nozzle mounted on a model tailpipe with a blind flange on the end to simulate a closed cruise nozzle, at tailpipe-to-ambient pressure ratios from 1.8 to 4.0. Also included are jet wake data, single-vaneset vector performance for long/short and equal-length vane designs, and pumping capability. The pumping capability arises from the subambient pressure developed in the cavities between the vanesets, which could be used to aspirate flow from a source such as the engine compartment. Some of the performance characteristics are compared with characteristics of a single-jet nozzle previously reported.

Mcardle, Jack G.↗

The Effects of Crossflow on the Pressures and Lift Induced by the Fountain Generated Between Two Impinging Jets

When a jet STOVL aircraft is hovering, or in a crossflow, while close to the ground wall jets flowing radially outward from the impingement points of the jets are generated. An upflow, or fountain, is generated where the wall jets from adjacent jets meet on the ground surface. The induced lift and suckdown generated by the impingement of the fountain on the lower surface of the configuration has been the subject of previous studies. This study analyzes the limited available pressure and force data on the effect of crossflow on the fountain induced lift and suckdown. The analysis includes the effects of jet spacing, height and operating conditions. However, it is limited to twin jet configurations of circular, vertical jets operating at subcritical nozzle pressure ratios over a fixed ground surface.

Kuhn, Richard E.↗

Data Quality Assurance for Supersonic Jet Noise Measurements

The noise created by a supersonic aircraft is a primary concern in the design of future high-speed planes. The jet noise reduction technologies required on these aircraft will be developed using scale-models mounted to experimental jet rigs designed to simulate the exhaust gases from a full-scale jet engine. The jet noise data collected in these experiments must accurately predict the noise levels produced by the full-scale hardware in order to be a useful development tool. A methodology has been adopted at the NASA Glenn Research Center s Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory to insure the quality of the supersonic jet noise data acquired from the facility s High Flow Jet Exit Rig so that it can be used to develop future nozzle technologies that reduce supersonic jet noise. The methodology relies on mitigating extraneous noise sources, examining the impact of measurement location on the acoustic results, and investigating the facility independence of the measurements. The methodology is documented here as a basis for validating future improvements and its limitations are noted so that they do not affect the data analysis. Maintaining a high quality jet noise laboratory is an ongoing process. By carefully examining the data produced and continually following this methodology, data quality can be maintained and improved over time.

Brown, Clifford A.↗

Summary of the 6th AIAA Propulsion Aerodynamics Workshop Nozzle Test Case: Heated Supersonic Axisymmetric Jets

This paper summarizes findings from the sixth AIAA Propulsion Aerodynamics Workshop (PAW) nozzle test case. The focus of the workshop participants was turbulent supersonic round jets with variation in jet Mach number and jet heating. Three nozzles were utilized with on-design jet Mach numbers of 1.36, 1.63, and 2.00. A heated jet for each of these three nozzles at on-design conditions, a temperature matched on-design condition at Mach 1.63, and an off-design heated condition for the Mach 1.63 nozzle were the five cases examined. Workshop participants utilized Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) based techniques. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solutions were compared with non-intrusive measurements of velocities and temperatures, including both mean values and turbulence statistics. In general, the RANS approaches were unable to capture the trend of reduced mixing as the jet Mach number increased. Incorporation of compressibility corrections improved the agreement with experimental measurements in terms of trends with varying jet Mach number, but also increased the jet potential core lengths to be in worse agreement with data. RANS methods were able to reasonably capture trends of jet heating. The LES-based approaches as a whole were able to capture the effects of compressibility more accurately. Effects of jet heating were captured well by LES. None of the LES approaches introduced disturbances from the wall boundary layers of the nozzle into the jet mixing layer, which would affect the jet flow physics modeling in the initial part of the jet shear layer, but would be very computationally demanding.

supersonic jet↗

Characterization of Chevron Nozzle Performance

The flow fields from a set of 50.8 mm diameter circular nozzles were characterized using both streamwise and cross-stream 3-component Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry (SPIV). The test matrix of nozzles included 15 different chevron nozzle designs and one baseline, circularly symmetric nozzle. Nozzle jet operating conditions ranged from acoustic Mach numbers of 0.9 to 1.5, with static temperature ratios ranging between 0.84 and 2.7. Detailed surveys of the single jet flows were performed to capture three-dimensional features of the turbulent exhaust jet evolution. Cross-flow planar measurements were obtained at twelve axial locations, ranging from 0.1 to 20 nozzle diameters downstream of the nozzle exit planes. Streamwise measurements, along the jet centerlines, were obtained at ten partially overlapping downstream locations, providing complete axial surveys over a region extending beyond 20 nozzle diameters downstream of the nozzle exit planes. In both optical configurations, the measurement planes were sized to completely capture the fully turbulent jet shear layer growth. The measured three-dimensional mean and turbulent velocity fields, along with computed second order statistics including axial vorticity and turbulent kinetic energy, were evaluated for all test points. Well-defined streamwise vortex structures in the jet shear layers were measured and reported.

Jet Noise↗

Turbulent mixing noise from supersonic jets

There is now a substantial body of theoretical and experimental evidence that the dominant part of the turbulent noise of supersonic jets is generated directly by the large turbulence structures/instability waves of the jet flow. Earlier, Tam and Burton provided a description of the physical mechanism by which supersonically traveling instability waves can generate sound efficiently. They used the method of matched asymptotic expansions to construct an instability wave solution which is valid in the far field. The present work is an extension of the theory of Tam and Burton. It is argued that the instability wave spectrum of the jet may be regarded as generated by stochastic white noise excitation at the nozzle lip region. The reason why the excitation has white noise characteristics is that near the nozzle lip region the flow in the jet mixing layer has no intrinsic length and time scales. The present stochastic wave model theory of supersonic jet noise contains a single unknown multiplicative constant. Comparisons between the calculated noise directivities at selected Strouhal numbers and experimental measurements of a Mach 2 jet at different jet temperatures have been carried out. Favorable agreements are found.

Tam, Christopher K. W.↗