A Contra-Rotating Open Rotor Noise Reduction Methodology by Using Anhedral Blade Tip

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Tianxiao Yang ◽  
Wenjun Yu ◽  
Dong Liang ◽  
Xiang He ◽  
Zhenguo Zhao

Abstract In this paper, a novel Contra-Rotating Open Rotor (CROR) noise reduction methodology based upon the anhedral blade tip applied to the front blade is developed. Results indicate that anhedral blade tip can provide noise reduction over 60 deg. polar angle range in both upstream and downstream areas at takeoff condition. The noise reduction becomes more significant as the lean angle of anhedral blade tip increases, and the maximum noise reduction is over 4 dB. Further analysis shows that anhedral blade tip decreases the strength and size of blade tip vortex shed from the front blade, and reduces its interaction with the rear rotor, which decreases the fluctuation of loading acting on the rear rotor and its loading noise. Furthermore, the anhedral blade tip does not have strong effect on the aerodynamic performance of CROR at cruise.

2011 ◽  
Vol 134 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Peters ◽  
Zoltán S. Spakovszky

Due to their inherent noise challenge and potential for significant reductions in fuel burn, counter-rotating propfans (CRPs) are currently being investigated as potential alternatives to high-bypass turbofan engines. This paper introduces an integrated noise and performance assessment methodology for advanced propfan powered aircraft configurations. The approach is based on first principles and combines a coupled aircraft and propulsion system mission and performance analysis tool with 3D unsteady, full-wheel CRP computational fluid dynamics computations and aeroacoustic simulations. Special emphasis is put on computing CRP noise due to interaction tones. The method is capable of dealing with parametric studies and exploring noise reduction technologies. An aircraft performance, weight and balance, and mission analysis was first conducted on a candidate CRP powered aircraft configuration. Guided by data available in the literature, a detailed aerodynamic design of a pusher CRP was carried out. Full-wheel unsteady 3D Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations were then used to determine the time varying blade surface pressures and unsteady flow features necessary to define the acoustic source terms. A frequency domain approach based on Goldstein’s formulation of the acoustic analogy for moving media and Hanson’s single rotor noise method was extended to counter-rotating configurations. The far field noise predictions were compared to measured data of a similar CRP configuration and demonstrated good agreement between the computed and measured interaction tones. The underlying noise mechanisms have previously been described in literature but, to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the individual contributions of front-rotor wake interaction, aft-rotor upstream influence, hub-endwall secondary flows, and front-rotor tip-vortices to interaction tone noise are dissected and quantified. Based on this investigation, the CRP was redesigned for reduced noise incorporating a clipped rear-rotor and increased rotor-rotor spacing to reduce upstream influence, tip-vortex, and wake interaction effects. Maintaining the thrust and propulsive efficiency at takeoff conditions, the noise was calculated for both designs. At the interaction tone frequencies, the redesigned CRP demonstrated an average reduction of 7.25 dB in mean sound pressure level computed over the forward and aft polar angle arcs. On the engine/aircraft system level, the redesigned CRP demonstrated a reduction of 9.2 dB in effective perceived noise (EPNdB) and 8.6 EPNdB at the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) 36 flyover and sideline observer locations, respectively. The results suggest that advanced open rotor designs can possibly meet Stage 4 noise requirements.


Author(s):  
Csaba Horváth ◽  
Bence Fenyvesi ◽  
Bálint Kocsis ◽  
Michael Quaglia ◽  
Stéphane Moreau ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Damiano Tormen ◽  
Pietro Giannattasio ◽  
Alessandro Zanon ◽  
Helmut Kühnelt ◽  
Michele De Gennaro

The present work focuses on the fast prediction of the interaction noise (IN) components of a Contra Rotating Open Rotor (CROR) engine at take-off. The flow field past the CROR is computed using a steady RANS approach coupled with the concept of mixing plane between the rotors to remove the flow unsteadiness due to the propeller interaction. The effects of such interaction are then recovered applying the analytical model of Jaron et al. (2014), balanced with data extracted from the RANS solution, to extrapolate the information about the wake of the front rotor and the potential flow fields through the mixing plane. This RANS-informed approximation allows recovering the unsteadiness of the flow-blades interaction in terms of unsteady blade response. The tonal noise at the blade passing frequency and the interaction noise are then estimated using the analytical frequency domain model proposed by Hanson (1985). The present method for the fast prediction of CROR noise has been validated by comparison with the results of URANS simulations and noise measurements. CROR geometry UDF F7/A7 with both 8 × 8 and 11 × 9 blade counts has been considered. The flow velocity profiles extrapolated through the mixing plane agree well with the URANS results, except in the vicinity of the blade tip, where the analytical extrapolation method is not able to deal properly with the strongly 3D tip vortex flow. The comparison of the predicted interaction noise with acoustic measurements shows that the present fast RANS-informed approach is capable of estimating the directivity of the CROR noise with reasonable accuracy.


Author(s):  
Eirene Rebecca Busch ◽  
Manuel Keßler ◽  
Ewald Krämer

Noise emission of a 9×7 and 8×8 open rotor configuration in cruise and in take-off conditions is examined by 3D unsteady numerical simulations utilising the chimera method to represent rotor movement. The acoustic analysis has been carried out with a Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings code over one rotor revolution with a resolution of 360 time steps. To ensure covering of all sources while keeping numerical losses low different hull surfaces have been examined. The comparison of two configurations at different flight conditions shows two main noise generating effects: the single rotor emission and emission caused by interaction of the rotors. The single rotor emission can mostly be seen in the rotor plane whereas the interaction can be examined at an angle of 20 to 45 and 135 to 155 degrees to the rotating axis with approximately the same share of total noise in take-off conditions. In cruise conditions the single rotor emission prevails over the interaction. This can be explained by the transonic blade tip speeds during cruise. Due to the reduced tip speeds in take-off interaction noise contributes to the total noise with a higher share than in cruise conditions. The 8×8-configuration shows higher noise emissions by interaction since the rotor-rotor interactions occur simultaneously.


Author(s):  
Andreas Peters ◽  
Zolta´n S. Spakovszky

Due to their inherent noise challenge and potential for significant reductions in fuel burn, counter-rotating propfans (CRPs) are currently being investigated as potential alternatives to high-bypass turbofan engines. This paper introduces an integrated noise and performance assessment methodology for advanced propfan powered aircraft configurations. The approach is based on first principles and combines a coupled aircraft and propulsion system mission and performance analysis tool with 3-D unsteady, full wheel CRP CFD computations and aero-acoustic simulations. Special emphasis is put on computing CRP noise due to interaction tones. The method is capable of dealing with parametric studies and exploring noise reduction technologies. An aircraft performance, weight and balance and mission analysis was first conducted on a candidate CRP powered aircraft configuration. Guided by data available in the literature, a detailed aerodynamic design of a pusher CRP was carried out. Full wheel unsteady 3-D RANS simulations were then used to determine the time varying blade surface pressures and unsteady flow features necessary to define the acoustic source terms. A frequency domain approach based on Goldstein’s formulation of the acoustic analogy for moving media and Hanson’s single rotor noise method were extended to counter-rotating configurations. The far field noise predictions were compared to measured data of a similar CRP configuration and demonstrated good agreement between the computed and measured interaction tones. The underlying noise mechanisms have previously been described in the literature but, to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the individual contributions of front-rotor wake interaction, aft-rotor upstream influence, hub-endwall secondary flows and front-rotor tip-vortices to interaction tone noise are dissected and quantified. Based on this investigation, the CRP was re-designed for reduced noise incorporating a clipped rear-rotor and increased rotor-rotor spacing to reduce upstream influence, tip-vortex, and wake interaction effects. Maintaining the thrust and propulsive efficiency at takeoff conditions, the noise was calculated for both designs. At the interaction tone frequencies, the re-designed CRP demonstrated an average reduction of 7.25 dB in mean SPL computed over the forward and aft polar angle arcs. On the engine/aircraft system level, the re-designed CRP demonstrated a reduction of 9.2 EPNdB and 8.6 EPNdB at the FAR 36 flyover and sideline observer locations, respectively. The results suggest that advanced open rotor designs can possibly meet Stage 4 noise requirements.


AIAA Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Damiano Tormen ◽  
Pietro Giannattasio ◽  
Alessandro Zanon ◽  
Michele De Gennaro ◽  
Helmut Kühnelt

Author(s):  
Dale E. Van Zante ◽  
Edmane Envia

The rising cost of jet fuel has renewed interest in contra-rotating open rotor propulsion systems. Contemporary design methods offer the potential to maintain the inherently high aerodynamic efficiency of open rotors while greatly reducing their noise output, something that was not feasible in the 1980’s designs. The primary source mechanisms of open rotor noise generation are thought to be the front rotor wake and tip vortex interacting with the aft rotor. In this paper, advanced measurement techniques and high-fidelity prediction tools are used to gain insight into the relative importance of the contributions to the open rotor noise signature of the front rotor wake and rotor tip vortex. The measurements include three-dimensional particle image velocimetry of the intra-rotor flowfield and the acoustic field of a model-scale open rotor. The predictions provide the unsteady flowfield and the associated acoustic field. The results suggest that while the front rotor tip vortex can have a significant influence on the blade passing tone noise produced by the aft rotor, the front rotor wake plays the decisive role in the generation of the interaction noise produced as a result of the unsteady aerodynamic interaction of the two rotors. At operating conditions typical of takeoff and landing operations, the interaction noise level is easily on par with that generated by the individual rotors, and in some cases is even higher. This suggests that a comprehensive approach to reducing open rotor noise should include techniques for mitigating the wake of the front rotor as well as eliminating the interaction of the front rotor tip vortex with the aft rotor blade tip.


2021 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Schneehagen ◽  
Thomas F. Geyer ◽  
Ennes Sarradj ◽  
Danielle J. Moreau

Abstract One known method to reduce vortex shedding from the tip of a blade is the use of end plates or winglets. Although the aerodynamic impact of such end plates has been investigated in the past, no studies exist on the effect of such end plates on the far-field noise. The aeroacoustic noise reduction of three different end-plate geometries is experimentally investigated. The end plates are applied to the free end of a wall-mounted symmetric NACA 0012 airfoil and a cambered NACA 4412 airfoil with an aspect ratio of 2 and natural boundary layer transition. Microphone array measurements are taken in the aeroacoustic open-jet wind tunnel at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg for chord-based Reynolds numbers between 75,000 and 225,000 and angles of attack from 0$$^\circ$$ ∘ to 30$$^\circ$$ ∘ . The obtained acoustic spectra show a broad frequency hump for the airfoil base configurations at higher angles of attack that is attributed to tip noise. Hot-wire measurements taken for one configuration show that the application of an end plate diffuses the vorticity at the tip. The aeroacoustic noise contribution of the tip can be reduced when the endplates are applied. This reduction is most effective for higher angles of attack, when the tip vortex is the dominant sound source. Graphic abstract


Author(s):  
Benjamin Yen ◽  
Yusuke Hioka

Abstract A method to locate sound sources using an audio recording system mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is proposed. The method introduces extension algorithms to apply on top of a baseline approach, which performs localisation by estimating the peak signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) response in the time-frequency and angular spectra with the time difference of arrival information. The proposed extensions include a noise reduction and a post-processing algorithm to address the challenges in a UAV setting. The noise reduction algorithm reduces influences of UAV rotor noise on localisation performance, by scaling the SNR response using power spectral density of the UAV rotor noise, estimated using a denoising autoencoder. For the source tracking problem, an angular spectral range restricted peak search and link post-processing algorithm is also proposed to filter out incorrect location estimates along the localisation path. Experimental results show the proposed extensions yielded improvements in locating the target sound source correctly, with a 0.0064–0.175 decrease in mean haversine distance error across various UAV operating scenarios. The proposed method also shows a reduction in unexpected location estimations, with a 0.0037–0.185 decrease in the 0.75 quartile haversine distance error.


2014 ◽  
Vol 118 (1208) ◽  
pp. 1125-1135 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Kingan

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to describe the current status of open rotor noise prediction methods and to highlight future challenges in this area. A number of analytic and numerical methods are described which can be used for predicting ‘isolated’ and ‘installed’ open rotor tonal noise. Broadband noise prediction methods are also described and it is noted that further development and validation of the current models is required. The paper concludes with a discussion of the analytical methods which are used to assess the acoustic data collected during the high-speed wind-tunnel testing of a model scale advanced open rotor rig.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document