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At least 163 records · Page 9

Rotor-vortex interaction noise

A theoretical and experimental study was conducted to develop a validated first principles analysis for predicting noise generated by helicopter main-rotor shed vortices interacting with the tail rotor. The generalized prediction procedure requires a knowledge of the incident vortex velocity field, rotor geometry, and rotor operating conditions. The analysis includes compressibility effects, chordwise and spanwise noncompactness, and treats oblique intersections with the blade planform. Assessment of the theory involved conducting a model rotor experiment which isolated the blade-vortex interaction noise from other rotor noise mechanisms. An isolated tip vortex, generated by an upstream semispan airfoil, was convected into the model tail rotor. Acoustic spectra, pressure signatures, and directivity were measured. Since assessment of the acoustic prediction required a knowledge of the vortex properties, blade-vortes intersection angle, intersection station, vortex stength, and vortex core radius were documented. Ingestion of the vortex by the rotor was experimentally observed to generate harmonic noise and impulsive waveforms.

Schlinker, R. H.↗

A 4.8 kbps code-excited linear predictive coder

A secure voice system STU-3 capable of providing end-to-end secure voice communications (1984) was developed. The terminal for the new system will be built around the standard LPC-10 voice processor algorithm. The performance of the present STU-3 processor is considered to be good, its response to nonspeech sounds such as whistles, coughs and impulse-like noises may not be completely acceptable. Speech in noisy environments also causes problems with the LPC-10 voice algorithm. In addition, there is always a demand for something better. It is hoped that LPC-10's 2.4 kbps voice performance will be complemented with a very high quality speech coder operating at a higher data rate. This new coder is one of a number of candidate algorithms being considered for an upgraded version of the STU-3 in late 1989. The problems of designing a code-excited linear predictive (CELP) coder to provide very high quality speech at a 4.8 kbps data rate that can be implemented on today's hardware are considered.

Tremain, Thomas E.↗

Euler solutions to nonlinear acoustics of non-lifting hovering rotor blades

For the first time a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is used to calculate directly the high-speed impulsive (HSI) noise of a non-lifting hovering rotor blade out to a distance of over three rotor radii. In order to accurately propagate the acoustic wave in a stable and efficient manner, an implicit upwind-biased Euler method is solved on a grid with points clustered along the line of propagation. A detailed validation of the code is performed for a rectangular rotor blade at tip Mach numbers ranging from 0.88 to 0.92. The agreement with experiment is excellent at both the sonic cylinder and at 2.18 rotor radii. The agreement at 3.09 rotor radii is still very good, showing improvements over the results from the best previous method. Grid sensitivity studies indicate that with special attention to the location of the boundaries a grid with approximately 60,000 points is adequate. This results in a computational time of approximately 40 minutes on a Cray-XMP. The practicality of the method to calculate HSI noise is demonstrated by expanding the scope of the investigation to examine the rectangular blade as well as a highly swept and tapered blade over a tip Mach number range of 0.80 to 0.95. Comparisons with experimental data are excellent and the advantages of planform modifications are clearly evident. New insight is gained into the mechanisms of nonlinear propagation and the minimum distance at which a valid comparison of different rotors can be made: approximately two rotor radii from the center of rotation.

Baeder, J. D.↗

Euler solutions to nonlinear acoustics of non-lifting rotor blades

For the first time a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is used to calculate directly the high-speed impulsive (HSI) noise of a non-lifting hovering rotor blade out to a distance of over three rotor radii. In order to accurately propagate the acoustic wave in a stable and efficient manner, an implicit upwind-biased Euler method is solved on a grid with points clustered along the line of propagation. A detailed validation of the code is performed for a rectangular rotor blade at tip Mach numbers ranging from 0.88 to 0.92. The agreement with experiment is excellent at both the sonic cylinder and at 2.18 rotor radii. The agreement at 3.09 rotor radii is still very good, showing improvements over the results from the best previous method. Grid sensitivity studies indicate that with special attention to the location of the boundaries a grid with approximately 60,000 points is adequate. This results in a computational time of approximately 40 minutes on a Cray-XMP. The practicality of the method to calculate HSI noise is demonstrated by expanding the scope of the investigation to examine the rectangular blade as well as a highly swept and tapered blade over a tip Mach number range of 0.80 to 0.95. Comparisons with experimental data are excellent and the advantages of planform modifications are clearly evident. New insight is gained into the mechanisms of nonlinear propagation and the minimum distance at which a valid comparison of different rotors can be made: approximately two rotor radii from the center of rotation.

Baeder, J. D.↗

Time-Varying Loads of Co-Axial Rotor Blade Crossings

The blade crossing event of a coaxial counter-rotating rotor is a potential source of noise and impulsive blade loads. Blade crossings occur many times during each rotor revolution. In previous research by the authors, this phenomenon was analyzed by simulating two airfoils passing each other at specified speeds and vertical separation distances, using the compressible Navier-Stokes solver OVERFLOW. The simulations explored mutual aerodynamic interactions associated with thickness, circulation, and compressibility effects. Results revealed the complex nature of the aerodynamic impulses generated by upperlower airfoil interactions. In this paper, the coaxial rotor system is simulated using two trains of airfoils, vertically offset, and traveling in opposite directions. The simulation represents multiple blade crossings in a rotor revolution by specifying horizontal distances between each airfoil in the train based on the circumferential distance between blade tips. The shed vorticity from prior crossing events will affect each pair of upperlower airfoils. The aerodynamic loads on the airfoil and flow field characteristics are computed before, at, and after each airfoil crossing. Results from the multiple-airfoil simulation show noticeable changes in the airfoil aerodynamics by introducing additional fluctuation in the aerodynamic time history.

Time-Varying Loads↗

Modeling Shed Vorticity from Coaxial Blade Interactions

Coaxial counter-rotating rotors operate in a flowfield different from single rotors. Aerodynamic interactions such as blade crossing and shed vorticity result in potential sources of noise and impulsive blade loads. In previous research, the authors simulated two trains of airfoils traveling in opposite directions for specified speeds, airfoil thickness and vertical separation distances, using the compressible Navier-Stokes solver OVERFLOW. Previously, the effects of circulation, thickness, and compressibility were explored. This work continues the previous research by exploring downwash and shed vorticity effects. These phenomena are explored by simulating two trains of eight airfoils vertically separated traveling in opposite directions. The effects of downwash are simulated by introducing a vertical flow. Vorticity shed from the upper train of airfoils is shown to interact with the lower train, affecting the loading on the lower airfoils. Furthermore, viscid and inviscid calculations are performed to further understand the behavior of shed vorticity.

Natasha L Schatzman↗

Arousal from sleep by noises from aircraft with and without acoustically treated nacelles

The electroencephalographic and behavioral responses during sleep of four subjects, aged 46 to 58 years, to three types of noises were tested over 14 consecutive nights. The stimuli were two DC-8 jet landing noises (each 30 seconds in duration and coming from DC-8 aircraft with and without acoustical treatment on the engine nacelles) and a 4-second burst of pink noise. Each of the noises was tested at nominal intensities of 61 and 79 dBA. Other physical descriptors of the noises were measured or computed. The results indicate that for an equivalent degree of sleep disruption, noise form the jet aircraft with untreated nacelles must be about 6 dBA less intense than the jet with acoustically treated nacelles. Predictions of the effects of noise on sleep appear, tentatively, to attain the highest accuracy when the physical descriptor of noise intensity includes information about the impulsive characteristics of that noise as well as its long-term spectral content.

Lukas, J. S.↗

A subjective field study of helicopter blade-slap noise

The effects of impulsiveness on the noisiness of helicopters are examined by varying the main rotor speed while maintaining a constant airspeed. This resulted in other characteristics of the noise being held relatively constant. Other controlled variables included altitude, side line distance, descent operations, and level flyovers. A description is provided of the concept, experimental design and procedures along with results based on partial analyses of acoustic and subjective response data. No significant improvement in the noisiness predictive ability of EPNL was provided by either proposed or an A-weighted crest factor correction for impulsiveness.

Powell, C. A.↗

Wave mode identification of electrostatic noise observed with ISEE 3 in the deep tail boundary layer

The characteristics of the VLF electrostatic noise observed with ISEE 3 in the low-latitude boundary layer of distant geomagnetic tail are examined using a display format for the wave dynamic spectra different from that used by Scarf et al. (1984). It is shown that the observed noise is composed of impulsive bursts. The results of the detailed analysis of the noise parameters are used to develop a model of plasma wave behavior in the plasma rest frame. A hypothesis is proposed that the wide frequency extent of the noise spectra is composed of Doppler effects of waves propagating nearly omnidirectionally within the plasma rest frame, which is moving with the electron bulk speed. On the basis of this hypothesis, the wavelength of the observed waves were determined from the width of the frequency extent and the measured electron bulk speed. It is shown that the wavelength ranges from 2 to 8 times the plasma Debye length.

Tsutsui, M.↗

Distribution of whistler mode bursts at Venus

Several thousand impulsive whistler mode noise bursts were detected by the Pioneer Venus wave instrument during the first 10 seasons with nightside traversals at low altitudes. The altitude distribution for these events shows that essentially all of the bursts were detected when the orbiter was less than 2000 km above the planet, suggesting that the varying plasma conditions could not maintain coherent whistler mode field-aligned guidance over greater distances. Within the 2000-km range, the distribution of the number of events versus altitude shows that there are two distinct subregions. These results are interpreted in terms of two types of whistler mode propagation from sources below the ionosphere.

Scarf, F. L.↗

Evidence of lightning and volcanic activity on Venus - Pro and con

It is argued that the impulsive 100-Hz noise bursts detected with the use of the electric field antenna on the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) have plasma wave charcteristics that can only be explained if they are whistler mode signals of a type that can be produced by atmospheric discharges. It is further argued that these data are evidence for lightning and volcanic activity on Venus. A reply contends that the PVO electric field measurements are unrelated to either the lower atmosphere or the surface of Venus.

Scarf, Frederick L.↗

Advanced Land Imager Assessment System

The Advanced Land Imager Assessment System (ALIAS) supports radiometric and geometric image processing for the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) instrument onboard NASA s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. ALIAS consists of two processing subsystems for radiometric and geometric processing of the ALI s multispectral imagery. The radiometric processing subsystem characterizes and corrects, where possible, radiometric qualities including: coherent, impulse; and random noise; signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs); detector operability; gain; bias; saturation levels; striping and banding; and the stability of detector performance. The geometric processing subsystem and analysis capabilities support sensor alignment calibrations, sensor chip assembly (SCA)-to-SCA alignments and band-to-band alignment; and perform geodetic accuracy assessments, modulation transfer function (MTF) characterizations, and image-to-image characterizations. ALIAS also characterizes and corrects band-toband registration, and performs systematic precision and terrain correction of ALI images. This system can geometrically correct, and automatically mosaic, the SCA image strips into a seamless, map-projected image. This system provides a large database, which enables bulk trending for all ALI image data and significant instrument telemetry. Bulk trending consists of two functions: Housekeeping Processing and Bulk Radiometric Processing. The Housekeeping function pulls telemetry and temperature information from the instrument housekeeping files and writes this information to a database for trending. The Bulk Radiometric Processing function writes statistical information from the dark data acquired before and after the Earth imagery and the lamp data to the database for trending. This allows for multi-scene statistical analyses.

Chander, Gyanesh↗

Acoustic measurements of a full-scale coaxial hingeless rotor helicopter

Acoustic data were obtained during a full-scale test of the XH-59A Advancing Blade Concept Technology Demonstrator in the 40- by 80-Foot Wind Tunnel. The XH-59A is a research helicopter with two coaxial rotors and hingeless blades. Performance, vibration, and noise at various forward speeds, rotor lift coefficients and rotor shaft angles of attack were investigated. The noise data were acquired over an isolated rotor lift coefficient range of 0.024 to 0.162, an advance ratio range of 0.23 to 0.45 corresponding to tunnel wind speeds of 89 to 160 knots, and angles of attack from 0 deg to 10 deg. Acoustic data are presented for seven microphone locations for all run conditions where the model noise is above the background noise. Model test configuration and performance information are also listed. Acoustic waveforms, dBA, and 1/3-octave spectra as functions of operating condition for selected data points and microphones are presented. In general, the noise level is shown to increase with rotor lift coefficient except under certain operating conditions where significant impulsive blade/vortex interactions increase noise levels.

Peterson, R. L.↗

A class of systolizable IIR digital filters and its design for proper scaling and minimum output roundoff noise

A class of infinite impulse response (IIR) digital filters with a systolizable structure is proposed and its synthesis is investigated. The systolizable structure consists of pipelineable regular modules with local connections and is suitable for VLSI implementation. It is capable of achieving high performance as well as high throughput. This class of filter structure provides certain degrees of freedom that can be used to obtain some desirable properties for the filter. Techniques of evaluating the internal signal powers and the output roundoff noise of the proposed filter structure are developed. Based upon these techniques, a well-scaled IIR digital filter with minimum output roundoff noise is designed using a local optimization approach. The internal signals of all the modes of this filter are scaled to unity in the l2-norm sense. Compared to the Rao-Kailath (1984) orthogonal digital filter and the Gray-Markel (1973) normalized-lattice digital filter, this filter has better scaling properties and lower output roundoff noise.

Lei, Shaw-Min↗

Rotor Broadband Noise Prediction with Comparison to Model Data

This paper reports an analysis and prediction development of rotor broadband noise. The two primary components of this noise are Blade-Wake Interaction (BWI) noise, due to the blades' interaction with the turbulent wakes of the preceding blades, and "Self" noise, due to the development and shedding of turbulence within the blades' boundary layers. Emphasized in this report is the new code development for Self noise. The analysis and validation employs data from the HART program, a model BO-105 rotor wind tunnel test conducted in the German-Dutch Wind Tunnel (DNW). The BWI noise predictions are based on measured pressure response coherence functions using cross-spectral methods. The Self noise predictions are based on previously reported semiempirical modeling of Self noise obtained from isolated airfoil sections and the use of CAMRAD.Modl to define rotor performance and local blade segment flow conditions. Both BWI and Self noise from individual blade segments are Doppler shifted and summed at the observer positions. Prediction comparisons with measurements show good agreement for a range of rotor operating conditions from climb to steep descent. The broadband noise predictions, along with those of harmonic and impulsive Blade-Vortex Interaction (BVI) noise predictions, demonstrate a significant advance in predictive capability for main rotor noise.

Brooks, Thomas F.↗

A Psychoacoustic Test for Urban Air Mobility Vehicle Sound Quality

This paper describes a psychoacoustic test in the Exterior Effects Room (EER) at the NASA Langley Research Center. The test investigated the degree to which sound quality metrics (sharpness, tonality, etc.) are predictive of annoyance to notional sounds of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) vehicles (i.e., air taxis). A suite of 136 unique (4.6 second duration) UAM rotor noise stimuli was generated. These stimuli were based on aeroacoustic predictions of a NASA reference UAM quadrotor aircraft under two flight conditions. The synthesizer changed rotor noise parameters such as the blade passage frequency, the relative level of broadband self-noise, and the relative level of tonal motor noise. With loudness constant, the synthesis parameters impacted sound quality in a way that created a spread of predictors both in synthesizer parameters and in sound quality metrics. Forty subjects listened to the suite of UAM noise stimuli in the EER and judged each sound individually on a standard scale of annoyance. Additionally, a subset of the UAM noise stimuli were compared to a reference sound that varied in loudness. From these responses, the relative effect of changes in loudness or changes in other sound quality metrics on annoyance was evaluated. This paper covers background and motivation for the test, details of how the sound stimuli were generated, and details of the test design and execution. Test results investigate how sound quality may affect perceived annoyance to UAM vehicle noise, indicating the importance of sharpness, tonality, impulsiveness, and roughness on annoyance to UAM noise.

UAM↗

Studies of the acoustic transmission characteristics of coaxial nozzles with inverted velocity profiles, volume 1

The efficiency of internal noise radiation through coannular exhaust nozzle with an inverted velocity profile was studied. A preliminary investigation was first undertaken to: (1) define the test parameters which influence the internal noise radiation; (2) develop a test methodology which could realistically be used to examine the effects of the test parameters; (3) and to validate this methodology. The result was the choice of an acoustic impulse as the internal noise source in the in the jet nozzles. Noise transmission characteristics of a nozzle system were then investigated. In particular, the effects of fan nozzle convergence angle, core extention length to annulus height ratio, and flow Mach number and temperatures were studied. The results are presented as normalized directivity plots.

Dean, P. D.↗