The design, construction and operation of the noise test facility at the National Gas Turbine Establishment

Extract

In the period since the inception of civil jet transport, during which a dramatic increase in travel and commerce by air has taken place, the research and development directed towards the containment and reduction of aircraft noise has spread across a steadily broadening front. The noise of the simple jet engines which propelled the first civil transport aircraft was almost entirely due to the high exhaust jet velocities that were used to obtain thrust from comparatively small mass flows. This is illustrated in Fig. 1(a), where it is seen that noise from other sources, such as the compressor and turbine, is comparatively insignificant. Thus aero engine noise research in the late fifties and early sixties was concentrated mainly on the prediction of jet noise and the development of noise-reducing propelling nozzles. It was not until bypass engines began to appear, with higher propulsive efficiencies resulting from lower exhaust jet velocities and higher mass flows, that the noise of their larger compressors drew attention to the turbomachinery as an additional source requiring investigation.