Coupled structural resonance of elastic panels for suppression of airfoil tonal noise

Irsalan Arif, Garret C.Y. Lam, Randolph C.K. Leung

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper the aeroacoustic characteristics of coupled flow-induced vibration of elastic panels mounted on an airfoil is numerically studied to uncover its potential for suppression of airfoil tonal noise. The proposed approach utilizes the inter-dynamical structural coupling between two elastic panels which maintain a synchronized flow-induced vibration pattern to weaken the flow fluctuations responsible for tonal noise generation. In the study, a NACA0012 airfoil at a low Reynolds number of 5×104 and an angle of attack of 5° is taken as the basic structure on which various panel configurations are attempted. The results of preliminary analysis of aeroacoustic-structural interactions of various panel configurations, using a reduced-order modeling approach, reveal that an airfoil-panel configuration with two elastic panels separated by approximately one convective wavelength and mounted in a region exposed to high boundary layer flow instabilities yields optimal noise suppression. Comprehensive aerodynamic and acoustic analyzes of airfoil-panel configurations, using the results of high fidelity direct aeroacoustic simulation, reveal that an average and maximum noise suppression up to 7.6 dB and 7.9 dB respectively can be achieved with negligible sacrifice on overall airfoil aerodynamics when strongly coupled structural resonance between the panels prevails. The magnitude of noise suppression is higher than twice of that from the configuration mounted with a single panel. This fact firmly illustrates the synergy of coupled flow-induced structural resonance of the panels prevailing in noise suppression. Nonlinear fluid–structure interactions of coupled resonant panels in airfoil-panel configuration are characterized by extensive spectral analyzes in frequency and wavenumber domains as well as correlation analyzes. The panels exhibit highly synchronized dynamic behaviors and run into limit cycle oscillations. Their strongly coherent structural responses are proven able to provide a more effective suppression of the boundary layer instabilities to be scattered at airfoil trailing edge as noise. The upstream propagating component of the generated noise does not interfere the coupled structural resonance of the panels as revealed from their weak correlations. Key characteristics required for the design of strongly coupled structural resonant panels for effective absorption of flow fluctuation energy are discerned and discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103506
JournalJournal of Fluids and Structures
Volume110
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2022

Keywords

  • Aeroacoustic-structural interaction
  • Airfoil self-noise
  • Conservation element and solution element scheme
  • Flow-induced vibration
  • Perturbation evolution method

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Mechanical Engineering

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