A Parametric Study on the LES Numerical Setup to Investigate Fan/OGV Broadband Noise

In the present paper, large eddy simulations are performed to study two different mechanisms of Fan/OGV broadband noise: airfoil self-noise and turbulence interaction noise. Firstly, the current study focuses on the prediction of airfoil self-noise from a thin plate with a sharp trailing edge and a chord-based Reynolds number of the order of 106. The boundary layer is tripped to trigger transition to turbulence, and a parameter study is performed to study the influence of the near-wall modeling, grid topology and refinement in the near-wall and wake regions, the spanwise domain extent, and the tripping method. Empirical and analytical models, as well as available DNS data are used for validation purposes. Secondly, the interaction noise from a thin plate impinged by an incoming synthetic turbulent flow is studied. For both cases, far-field acoustic spectra are compared to Amiet’s models for leading and trailing edge noise showing a good agreement.

Transition in a separation bubble under tonal and broadband acoustic excitation

Transition and flow development in a separation bubble formed on an airfoil are studied experimentally. The effects of tonal and broadband acoustic excitation are considered since such acoustic emissions commonly result from airfoil self-noise and can influence flow development via a feedback loop. This interdependence is decoupled, and the problem is studied in a controlled manner through the use of an external acoustic source. The flow field is assessed using time-resolved, two-component particle image velocimetry, the results of which show that, for equivalent energy input levels, tonal and broadband excitation can produce equivalent changes in the mean separation bubble topology. These changes in topology result from the influence of excitation on transition and the subsequent development of coherent structures in the bubble. Both tonal and broadband excitation lead to earlier shear layer roll-up and thus reduce the bubble size and advance mean reattachment upstream, while the shed vortices tend to persist farther downstream of mean reattachment in the case of tonal excitation. Through a cross-examination of linear stability theory (LST) predictions and measured disturbance characteristics, nonlinear disturbance interactions are shown to play a crucial role in the transition process, leading to significantly different disturbance development for the tonal and broadband excited flows. Specifically, tonal excitation results in transition being dominated by the excited mode, which grows in strong accordance with linear theory and damps the growth of all other disturbances. On the other hand, disturbance amplitudes are more moderate for the natural and broadband excited flows, and so all unstable disturbances initially grow in accordance with LST. For all cases, a rapid redistribution of perturbation energy to a broad range of frequencies follows, with the phenomenon occurring earliest for the broadband excitation case. By taking nonlinear effects into consideration, important ramifications are made clear in regards to comparing LST predictions and experimental or numerical results, thus explaining the trends reported in recent investigations. These findings offer new insights into the influence of tonal and broadband noise emissions, resulting from airfoil self-noise or otherwise, on transition and flow development within a separation bubble.

Large eddy simulation of airfoil self-noise using OpenFOAM

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate airfoil self-noise generation and propagation by using a hybrid method based on the large-eddy simulation (LES) approach and Curle’s acoustic analogy as implemented in OpenFOAM. Design/methodology/approach Large-eddy simulation of near-field flow over a NACA6512-63 airfoil at zero angle of attack with a boundary layer trip at Rec = 1.9 × 105 has been carried out using the OpenFOAM® computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Calculated flow results are compared with published experimental data. The LES includes the wind tunnel installation effects by using appropriate inflow boundary conditions obtained from a RANS κ – ω SST model computation of the whole wind tunnel domain. Far-field noise prediction was achieved by an integral method based on Curle’s acoustic analogy. The predicted sound pressure levels are validated against the experimental data at various frequency ranges. Findings The numerical results presented in this paper show that the flow features around a NACA6512-63 airfoil have been correctly captured in OpenFOAM LES calculations. The mean surface pressure distributions and the local pressure peaks for the step trip setup agree very well with the experimental measurements. Aeroacoustic prediction using Curle’s analogy shows an overall agreement with the experimental data. The sound pressure level-frequency spectral analysis produces very similar data at low to medium frequency, whereas the experimentally observed levels are slightly over predicted at a higher frequency range. Practical implications This study has achieved and evaluated an alternative aeroacoustic simulation method based on the combination of LES with a simple Smagorinsky SGS model and Curle’s analogy, as implemented in the OpenFOAM CFD code. The unsteady velocity/pressure source data produced can be used for any simpler analytically based far-field noise prediction scheme. Originality/value A complete integration of the LES and Curle’s acoustic analogy for aeroacoustic simulations has been achieved in OpenFOAM. The capability and accuracy of the hybrid method are fully evaluated for high-camber airfoil self-noise predictions. Wind tunnel installation effects have been incorporated properly into the LES.