This paper investigates the application of flow-permeable materials as a solution for reducing jet-installation noise. Experiments are carried out with a flat plate placed in the near field of a single-stream subsonic jet. The flat plate is modular and the solid surface near the trailing edge can be replaced with different flow-permeable inserts, such as a metal foam and a perforated plate structure. The time-averaged jet flow field is characterized through planar PIV measurements at three different velocities (Ma=0.3, Ma=0.5 and Ma=0.8, where Ma is the acoustic Mach number), whereas the acoustic far-field is measured with a microphone arc-array. Acoustic measurements confirm that installation effects cause significant noise increase, up to 17 dB for the lowest jet velocity, particularly at low and mid frequencies (i.e. St<0.7, with the Strouhal number based on the jet diameter and velocity), and mostly in the upstream direction of the jet. By replacing the solid trailing edge with the metal foam, noise abatement of up to 9 dB is achieved at the spectral peak for Ma=0.3 and a polar angle θ=40∘, with an overall reduction in the entire frequency range where jet-installation noise is dominant. The perforated plate provides lower noise reduction than the metal foam (7 dB at the spectral peak for Ma=0.3 and θ=40∘), and it is less effective at low frequencies. This is related to the values of permeability and form coefficient of the materials, which are the major parameters controlling the pressure balance across the trailing edge and, consequently, the noise generated by the plate. However, despite having a high permeability, the plate with the metal-foam trailing edge still has a distinct noise production at mid frequencies (St≈0.43 for Ma=0.3). Based on the analyses of different treated surface lengths, it is conjectured that the solid-permeable junction in the plate acts as a new scattering region, and thus its position also affects the far-field noise, which is in line with analytical predictions in the literature. Nonetheless, both types of inserts provide significant noise reduction and are potential solutions for the problem of jet-installation noise.@en

This paper investigates the mechanisms by which flow-permeable materials provide noise reduction in an installed jet configuration. Numerical simulations are carried out with a flat plate placed in the near field of a single-stream subsonic jet (Ma=0.3 and Ma=0.5). The trailing-edge region of the plate is replaced by three different permeable structures, with different properties: a metal foam, a perforated plate and a diamond-shaped structure. Due to its complex geometry, the metal foam is modeled with an equivalent region governed by Darcy's law. The perforated plate has the highest resistivity among all investigated configurations, whereas the metal foam and diamond inserts have similar properties. Far-field spectra show significant noise reduction when the solid trailing edge is replaced with the permeable materials, with a maximum decrease of 12 dB at St=0.12, for Ma=0.5. Beamforming results show that the dominant acoustic source is located at the solid–permeable junction for the metal foam and diamond structures, whereas the perforated one has the source positioned near the trailing edge, similarly to the solid case. A breakdown of the far-field noise generated by the plate is also performed, where the contributions from the solid and permeable sections are computed separately. The former has distinct regions in the noise spectrum, which are dominated either by surface pressure fluctuations or trailing-edge scattering. However, for the permeable region, the results point to a significant mitigation of the noise due to scattering, which is no longer the dominant mechanism in any frequency range. This is confirmed by lower values of spanwise coherence, computed from the surface pressure, for the permeable trailing edge, compared to the solid case. Therefore, the clear dominant mechanism in the permeable region of the plate is the unsteady loading to pressure wave impingement. This is verified for all investigated configurations so that even with a low permeability structure, significant noise reduction can still be achieved.@en

Porous materials have been widely investigated as a mean for noise reduction. Numerical simulations can be used to investigate the physical mechanisms responsible for noise reduction; however, a correct modeling of the porous medium through an equivalent fluid model is essential to minimize the computational costs. This paper reports a detailed review of a few applications of the equivalent fluid model based on a three-layer approach, a method that is particularly useful to account for the variation of porous material thickness in aerospace applications. The multilayer approach has been applied in three relevant aerodynamic noise issues: leading-edge impingement noise, turbulent boundary-layer trailing-edge noise, and jet installation noise. Comparison with experiments is used to validate the simulation approach. @en

This manuscript presents the application of a recently developed noise reduction technology, constituted by poro-serrated stator blades on a full-scale aircraft model, in order to reduce rotor-stator interaction noise in the fan stage. This study was carried out using the commercial lattice Boltzmann solver 3DS-SIMULIA PowerFLOW. The simulation combines the airframe of the NASA High-Lift Common Research Model with an upscaled fan stage of the source diagnostic test rig. The poro-serrations on the stator blades have been modeled based on a metal foam with two different porosity values. The results evidence that the poro-serrations induce flow separation on the stator blades, particularly near the fan-stage hub. Consequently, the thrust generated by the modified fan stage is lower and the broadband noise emission at low frequencies is enhanced. Nevertheless, the tonal noise components at the blade-passage frequency and its harmonics are mitigated by up to 9 dB. The poro-serrations with lower porosity achieve a better trade-off between noise emission and thrust penalty. An optimization attempt was carried out by limiting the application of porosity near the tip of the stator blades. The improved leading-edge treatment achieves a total of 1.5 dB in sound power level reduction while the thrust penalty is below 1.5%. This demonstrates that the aerodynamic effects of a leading-edge treatment should be taken into account during the design phase to fully benefit from its noise reduction capability@en

Aircraft noise levels have been significantly reducedwith the introduction of high-bypass ratio turbofan engines, particularly jet noise due to turbulence mixing. This, however, has led to engines with larger diameters and a closer coupling between them and the airframe. As a result, interactions between the exhaust jet flow and the wing give rise to an acoustic source known as jet-installation noise. In more detail, this source is generated by the impingement of unsteady pressure waves from the jet mixing-layer on the airframe surfaces and their scattering as noise at the wing trailing edge. Jet-installation noise becomes relevant particularly during take-off and approach conditions since the deployed flaps are located closer to the turbulent jet flow. Therefore, this thesis aims to elucidate the physical mechanisms behind jet-installation noise, followed by the development of passive mitigation solutions based on porous material technology and acoustic liners. A study on their effects and working mechanisms is performed, as well as on their feasibility from the aerodynamic perspective.@en

A Helmholtz resonator with a curved cavity is studied for reducing jet-installation noise in a configuration comprised by a subsonic jet and a nearby flat plate. The face-sheet and cavity are designed with the Guess method and the impedance is verified through an experiment and a simulation of an impedance tube. Both single and double degree-of-freedom liners, the latter with a perforated septum inside the cavity, are studied. A good agreement is obtained for the impedance curves from the design method and the experimental and numerical impedance tube, particularly at frequencies close to the absorption peak. Numerical simulations of the installed jet are performed with an array of resonators placed inside the plate with the face-sheet on the lower side, targeting noise reduction at a ground observer. Far-field spectra show that noise reduction in the order of 7 dB is obtained with respect to the baseline solid plate, at the resonance frequency of the single degree-of-freedom liner. Moreover, there is a broad frequency range around the resonance in which the sound pressure levels of the lined plate are lower. For the configuration with the double degree-of-freedom resonator, further noise reduction (approximately 3 dB) is obtained at higher frequencies, around the second peak in the absorption coefficient curve. The results also show that a slight noise reduction (2 - 3 dB) occurs for an observer on the shielded side of the plate, but in a significantly narrower band around the resonance frequency. This is attributed to the absorption of acoustic waves from the jet itself prior to their scattering at the trailing edge, coupled with a less abrupt impedance discontinuity at the trailing edge. Consequently, the resonators also act by reducing the strength of the acoustic source at the designed resonance frequency.@en

High-fidelity numerical simulations have been performed to investigate the noise reduction capability of porous leading-edge treatments for mitigating rotor-stator interaction noise in a full-scale aircraft model. The aircraft model consists of the NASA High-Lift Common Research Model (HL-CRM) airframe combined with an up-scaled Source Diagnostic Test (CRM) fan stage. The leading edge of the fan-stage stator blades is made of porous serrations, modelled using the properties of a metal foam. It is found that the porous serrations induce flow separation at the suction side of the stator blades, especially in the inner span regions. As a result, the modified fan stage produces smaller thrust, and the broadband noise emission in the low-frequency range is enhanced. Nevertheless, the tonal noise components at the blade-passage frequency and its harmonics are mitigated by up to 6dB. By limiting the usage of porosity near the tip of the stator blade, the adverse aerodynamic effects can be mitigated, improving the overall benefit of the porous serrations. Compared to the baseline case, such treatment leads to a total sound power level reduction 1.5dB and a thrust penalty that is below 1.5%. Hence, this study suggests that the aerodynamic effects of a porous leading-edge treatment should not be neglected in the design phase in order to maximise the noise reduction benefits.@en

A numerical investigation on jet-installation noise is performed using a software based on the Lattice-Boltzmann Method. A flat plate is placed in the irrotational hydrodynamic field of the jet, i.e. outside of the plume, resulting in noise increase due to the scattering of instability waves at the plate trailing edge. The configuration adopted in this work replicates the one used for a benchmark study at NASA Glenn, against which the numerical results are validated. Far-field noise spectra from the isolated and installed jet cases, obtained through the Ffowcs-Williams Hawkings analogy, are compared at different polar angles. The results show a low-frequency noise amplification, occurring mainly in the directions normal to the plate and upstream of the jet axis. It is also shown that strong pressure fluctuations are generated at the trailing-edge of the plate and then propagate to the far-field as acoustic waves. The effects of the plate geometry (length and radial position) and jet flow characteristics (velocity and temperature) on the installation noise are also addressed. Pressure fluctuations on the plate are also computed and correlated to the overall far-field results, showing that, in the installed case, the surface dipoles are the dominant sources at low frequencies@en

An experimental investigation on jet-installation noise reduction with permeable flaps on an aircraft half-model is performed, focusing on the effects on the noise levels as well as on the aerodynamic properties of the model (lift and drag forces). A nozzle with an exit diameter = 113 mm is included for generating a single-stream jet flow in the vicinity of the airframe. Two perforated flaps with different hole distributions are investigated. The first one has a uniform hole distribution with equal hole spacing in both streamwise and spanwise directions, whereas the second one has a gradient permeability with the hole spacing progressively decreasing towards the trailing edge. Aerodynamic force measurements, carried out with a balance, show that the permeable flaps are responsible for a lift reduction in the order of 7%, and a slight drag increase, in the order of 0.5%, with the gradient permeability flap outperforming the uniform one. Flow-field maps indicate that the effect on lift is linked to the formation of side-edge vortices at the spanwise positions corresponding to the discontinuity between solid and porous regions. Acoustic results obtained from phased array measurements show that the source at the flap trailing edge, generated by the interaction with the jet, reduces by 3 dB in amplitude with both permeable flaps, which perform similarly. Therefore, the permeable flaps are able to significantly reduce jet-installation noise for an aircraft configuration in flight conditions, however care must be taken in the design of the permeable structure in order to avoid aerodynamic degradation.@en

An investigation of the effects of free-stream on jet-installation noise is performed using a numerical solver based on the lattice-Boltzmann method. In order to simulate a realistic configuration, a high-lift wing comprised by a main element and a deployed flap (MD30P30N) is placed in the vicinity of a dual-stream engine (GE90-94B). The engine operating parameters are used as inputs to generate realistic exhaust flows. Far-field noise spectra from the isolated and installed jets, obtained through the Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings analogy, are compared for different polar angles. In the absence of free-stream, the results show a low-frequency noise amplification, occurring mainly upstream of the jet axis. This noise increase is due to a dipole source at the flap trailing-edge, where hydrodynamic waves from the jet scatter as sound to the far-field. With free-stream, the wing produces a downward flow, which deflects the jet plume. There is a consequent change on the shear layer turbulence characteristics, which is responsible for altering the far-field spectral shape and directivity pattern of the overall configuration. Through a wavelet decomposition of the near-pressure field, coherent and chaotic fluctuations are splitted. Near-field spectra show the change in amplitude of fluctuations of coherent structures due to free-stream, which are in agreement with the farfield results. @en