Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T20:11:23.520Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Mach wave field radiated by supersonic turbulent shear flows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

J. E. Ffowcs Williams
Affiliation:
Bolt, Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts
G. Maidanik
Affiliation:
Bolt, Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts

Extract

Theoretical studies of aerodynamic noise suggest that the sound field of supersonic flows will be dominated by eddy Mach waves. Recent experimental evidence supports this view. In supersonic turbulent boundary layers, and rocket exhaust flows, turbulence occurs in regions of high mean velocity gradient. At low speed, such gradients are known to amplify the sound emitted by turbulence. This paper deals with the corresponding Mach wave problem. The exact equations of sound radiation by turbulence are rearranged in a form where the equivalent sources, derivatives of the turbulence stress tensor, are shown to be dominated by one term. That term is formed from the product of the mean velocity gradient and the rate of change of density. It seems that its resemblance to the dominant source of sound in low speed shear flows is largely fortuitous. In the Mach wave case, the theory is designed to include effects of both temperature gradients and density perturbations, and the approximations of the estimate are of a type that would not be expected to be valid away from the Mach wave condition. The basic theory is used to make an estimate of the sound radiated from supersonic boundary layers, and an approximate equation relating the radiated pressure to the surface pressure is derived. Experimental evidence is then examined to show that the equation is in excellent agreement with observation. The theory is then applied to annular shear flows of the rocket exhaust type. Again an approximate equation relating near and far field pressures is established, and the paper concludes with suggestions for experiments that could check the result.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1965

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Davies, P. O. A. L., Fisher, M. J. & Barratt, M. J. 1963 The characteristics of turbulence in the mixing region of a round jet. J. Fluid Mech. 15, 337–67.Google Scholar
Favre, A. J., Gaviglio, J. J. & Dumas, R. J. 1958 Further space-time correlations of velocity in a turbulent boundary layer, J. Fluid Mech. 3, 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ffowcs Williams, J. E. 1962 The importance of high order multipoles in aerodynamic noise theory. N.P.L. Aero Report 1038, ARC 24,017.Google Scholar
Ffowcs Williams, J. E. 1963 The noise from turbulence convected at high speed. Phil. Trans. A, 1061, 255, 469503.Google Scholar
Kistler, A. L. & Chen, W. S. 1963 The fluctuating pressure field in a supersonic turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 16, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laufer, J. 1961 Aerodynamic noise in supersonic wind tunnels. J. Aerospace Sci. 28, 9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laufer, J. 1962 Sound radiation from a turbulent boundary layer. Proc. of the Marseille Conference on Turbulence, CNRS Report, no. 108. Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.Google Scholar
Laufer, J. 1964 Mechanism of noise generation in the turbulent boundary layer (Agardograph with Ffowes Williams, J. E. and Childress, S.).Google Scholar
Lighthill, M. J. 1952 On sound generated aerodynamically. I. General theory. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 221, 564–87.Google Scholar
Lighthill, M. J. 1954 On sound generated aerodynamically. II. Turbulence as a source of sound. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 222, 1.Google Scholar
Lighthill, M. J. 1962 Sound generated aerodynamically. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 267, 1329.Google Scholar
Pai, S. I. 1954 Fluid Dynamics of Jets. New York: Van Nostrand Co., Inc.Google Scholar
Phillips, O. M. 1960 On the generation of sound by supersonic turbulent shear layers. J. Fluid Mech. 9, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, A. 1960 Aerodynamic noise and the plane boundary. J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 32, 8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Proudman, I. 1952 The generation of noise by isotropic turbulence. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 214, 119.Google Scholar