Building-generated turbulence can significantly influence the propagation of noise from advanced air mobility (AAM) vehicles operating in urban environments, yet its impact on acoustic variability remains poorly quantified. In this study, the effect of an isolated building wake on sound propagation is investigated using time-resolved Lattice-Boltzmann very-large-eddy simulations. A simplified tonal acoustic source representative of an AAM vehicle is placed downstream of the building, and the resulting unsteady sound field is analyzed within and downstream of the turbulent wake. The results show that wake-induced turbulence produces pronounced temporal fluctuations in the received sound pressure level, with variability exceeding 3 dB in localized regions. These fluctuations extend beyond the physical extent of the wake due to interference effects and reflected propagation paths from the building and ground. Analysis along selected propagation directions indicates a strong correlation between turbulence-induced velocity fluctuations and acoustic variability along direct propagation paths, while this correlation weakens in regions dominated by multiple reflections. The findings emphasize the importance of accounting for unsteady, building-induced flow effects when evaluating AAM noise in urban environments.

The interaction between acoustic waves and turbulent grazing flow over an acoustic liner is investigated using lattice-Boltzmann very-large-eddy simulations. A single-degree-offreedom liner with 11 streamwise-aligned cavities is studied in a grazing flow impedance tube. The conditions replicate reference experiments from the Federal University of Santa Catarina. The influence of grazing flow (with a centreline Mach number of 0.32), acoustic wave amplitude, frequency and propagation direction relative to the mean flow is analysed. Impedance is computed using both direct (i.e. the in situ method) and modelfitting inference (i.e. the mode-matching) methods. The former reveals strong spatial variations; however, averaged values throughout the sample show minimal differences between upstream- and downstream-propagating waves, in contrast to what is obtained with the latter method. Flow analyses reveal that the orifices displace the flow away from the face sheet, with this effect amplified by acoustic waves and dependent on the wave propagation direction. Consequently, the boundary layer displacement thickness (δ∗) increases along the streamwise direction compared with a smooth wall and exhibits localised humps downstream of each orifice. The growth of δ∗ alters the flow dynamics within the orifices by weakening the shear layer at downstream positions. This influences the acoustic-induced mass flow rate through the orifices at equal sound pressure level, suggesting that acoustic energy is dissipated differently along the liner. The asymmetry of the flow field experienced by the acoustic wave, depending on its propagation direction,highlights the need to consider a spatially evolving turbulent flow when studying the acoustic–flow interaction and measuring impedance.

Turbulence from densely built urban structures alters the acoustic signature of advanced air mobility (AAM) vehicles, complicating prediction of noise impact. Ray tracing, using instantaneous frozen velocity-field snapshots from time-resolved simulations, provides an efficient approach for estimating turbulence-induced acoustic variability. Comparisons of the equivalent sound level (⁠ ⁠), variability metric (⁠ ⁠), and transient sound-level fluctuations show good agreement with a time-resolved reference solution, where discrepancies are mainly near the source and ground. Correlation analysis confirms that dominant temporal variability trends are reproduced at most observer locations, demonstrating that the method provides a reliable and computationally efficient framework for assessing AAM noise in urban environments.

Recent studies on distributed electric propulsion systems suggest phase synchronization between rotors as a noise reduction strategy. However, the aerodynamic interactions between propellers' near fields and their influence on far-field tonal noise remain poorly understood, partly due to experimental limitations in microphone placement. This paper addresses this gap through lattice Boltzmann very large eddy simulations of three adjacent, co-rotating rotors, spaced radially at 2% of their diameter, to investigate how relative phase angle affects tonal noise directivity. Results reveal that proximity-induced aerodynamic interactions generate dominant tonal noise in most spatial directions, driven by two mechanisms: time-averaged inflow distortion from nearby propellers and impulsive local effects at blade tips, with the latter influenced by phase angle. While the directivity pattern of the blade-passing frequency harmonic tone remains consistent across phase angles, comparing cases with zero relative phase (blades aligned) and opposite-phase conditions shows sound pressure level shifts of up to 4.5 dB along the primary noise axis, namely, along the inflow direction. Conversely, acoustic interference significantly alters noise directivity, especially in opposite-phase conditions where sound is nearly canceled in specific directions. These findings highlight rotor synchronization as a promising strategy for reducing noise emissions toward sensitive areas.

The Council of European Aerospace Societies (CEAS) Aeroacoustics Specialists Committee (ASC) supports and promotes the interests of the scientific and industrial aeroacoustics community on a European scale and European aeronautics activities internationally. In this context, “aeroacoustics” encompasses all aerospace acoustics and related areas. Each year the committee highlights some of the research and development projects in Europe. This paper is a report on highlights of aeroacoustics research in Europe in 2023, compiled from information provided to the ASC of the CEAS. In addition, during 2023, a number of research programmes involving aeroacoustics were funded by the European Commission. Some of the highlights from these programmes are also summarized in this article, as well as highlights from other projects funded by national governments and industry. Contributions are gathered in sections by topic, and a section covering relevant European scientific events in 2023 is also included. Enquiries concerning all contributions should be addressed to the authors who are given at the end of each subsection.

Acoustic liners, passive devices to mitigate engine noise, operate under high-speed grazing flow and grazing acoustic waves. To investigate the complex physics governing this interaction, high-fidelity numerical simulations of a spatially evolving turbulent boundary layer grazing a multi-orifice acoustic liner at a bulk Mach number of 0.32 are performed. The simulations replicate conditions from a reference experiment. Grazing tonal plane acoustic waves with amplitudes of 130 dB and 145 dB and propagating in the same direction and the direction opposite to the mean flow are analyzed. The results show that the boundary layer displacement thickness doubles in the presence of the liner and its growth rate is affected by the amplitude and propagation direction of the acoustic wave. The acoustic liner also promotes the formation of an outer hump in both the logarithmic region of the streamwise and wall-normal velocity variance, with these effects becoming more pronounced under acoustic forcing. Furthermore, impedance estimation, using Dean’s method, reveals that near-wall flow modifications, quantified through the displacement thickness, influence the local value of the computed impedance.

Laminar to turbulent transition induced by spanwise periodic arrays of cylindrical roughness elements over a NACA 0012 airfoil is investigated by hotwire anemometry and infrared thermography. The roughness elements are placed in the flow under adverse pressure gradient. Three configurations are investigated, namely an isolated roughness element, a spanwise array of roughness elements, and a pair of arrays in stagger. The streamwise and spanwise interactions between roughness wakes are addressed, focusing on the evolution of mean flow features and mechanisms for the subsequent process of laminar-turbulent transition. The spanwise interaction between roughness elements involves the connections and merging of neighboring low-speed regions (MLS) in the wake, which affects the spanwise distribution and amplitude of the velocity streaks. The maximum effect on promoting transition is observed when two neighboring low-speed regions overlap with each other in the near wake (within 6 times roughness height). The addition of a second roughness array promotes transition when the spanwise spacing is larger than two times the roughness diameter. Spectral analysis of the streamwise velocity fluctuations reveals that the number of roughness elements within the spanwise array affects the number of MLSs and the dominant instability mechanism. For an odd number of MLSs, the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability dominates the growth of velocity fluctuations around the three-dimensional shear layers. For an even number of MLSs, both Kelvin–Helmholtz and asymmetric instabilities appear in the wake. In this case, the dominant mode that leads to transition depends on the spanwise spacing between roughness elements.

Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) have been identified as a technology that, in association with wake steering, can increase power density of wind farms. In this study, we validate a free wake method for VAWT wake prediction, which leads to satisfactory results. We then use this method to simulate wake steering by means of fixed pitched blades and struts. We demonstrate that combining pitched wakes and struts can lead to very advantageous wake behavior, but only when the interactions between the tip vortices are taken into account. The possibility to inject more high momentum flow into the wake while moving the vortex system away from the next turbine could make pitched blades and struts a powerful tool for future wind farms.

A time-domain inverse aeroacoustic method based on the convective Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings equation is presented. The method allows to determine, in real-time, the unsteady forces exerted on rotating blades in the presence of a moving medium. The inversion procedure is based on a space-time regularization with a mixed l1,2-norm, which guarantees accuracy and smoothness of the solution. The method is initially verified through synthetic acoustic signals emitted by rotating sources in a constant flow, up to a convective Mach number of about 0.88. Then the method is validated through signals generated by a propeller immersed in a wind-tunnel jet flow, up to a Mach number of 0.06. Due to the reduced convective Mach number, the leading aeroacoustic effect is derived from a variation of the blade loading. It is argued that the onset of flow separation at high values of the rotor advance ratio is responsible for the onset of force fluctuations that the inverse method is able to retrieve both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Eduction methods are adopted to characterize acoustic liners. In this paper, several impedance eduction techniques are compared using a numerical database obtained with scale resolved lattice-Boltzmann simulations of a reference acoustic liner in the presence or not of a grazing turbulent flow. Three impedance eduction techniques are compared: an inverse approach based on the Mode-Matching (MM) method, the straightforward method based on the Prony-like Kumaresan-Tufts (KT) algorithm, and one approach based on a minimization problem between reference measurements and the solution of the Pierce’s equation. Furthermore, the educed impedance is compared with the one obtained using local impedance measurements with the Dean’s method with virtual probes located on the entire face-sheet. Results show that impedance values obtained with the Deans’ method are highly dependent on the sampling location and that they vary largely over each cavity. Results from the eduction methods are similar amongst them with few discrepancies found for the method based on the Pierce’s equation. In particular, the highest value of resistance obtained using the Deans’ method is similar to the one obtained using the KT and MM eduction methods.

Motivated by the potential benefit of Strut-Braced Wing (SBW) configurations in reducing fuel burn, this manuscript investigates the noise generated by the interaction between the propeller slipstream and the SBW. The flow field on a regional transport aircraft is computed in high-lift condition by means of a high-fidelity Lattice Boltzmann solver with very large eddy simulation approach. The acoustic far field is obtained using the Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings acoustic analogy. The analysis shows that the main aeroacoustic effect due to the interaction between the SBW and the propeller slipstream is the emergency of a tonal noise scattering from the region bounded by the pressure side of the main wing and the suction side of the strut at twice the blade passing frequency.

This study investigates the aerodynamic and acoustic response of a multi-orifice acoustic liner grazed by a planar acoustic wave and turbulent flow, at centerline Mach number equal to 0.32. High-fidelity flow simulations are carried out using a Lattice-Boltzmann Very-LargeEddy-Simulation solver and the in-situ technique is used to calculate impedance. The triple decomposition technique is adopted to separate the mean-flow effects from those due to grazing tonal acoustic waves with different frequencies and amplitudes. This study highlights the sensitivity of in-situ measurements on the position of the face-sheet probe used to sample the unsteady pressure fluctuations. It is found that the resistance changes up to a factor of three along each cavity. The acoustic-induced velocity field reveals the intricate interaction between the acoustic waves and the turbulent flow. It is shown that the wake shed by the upstream cavity impacts the downstream one, affecting the spatial distribution and the amplitude of the acoustic-induced velocity within the orifice. Furthermore, a vortex within the hole is observed; it is found that its impact on resistance depends on the acoustic wave propagation with respect to the mean flow.

Commercial aircraft electrification and novel urban air mobility vehicles under development have brought renewed interest in propeller noise to the research community. The complex noise generation mechanisms and broad range of possible configurations lead to the development of a large number of propeller noise test rigs. However, the effects of test rig configuration, installation, and instrumentation on the experimental results are still unclear. In this work, the comparison of the results obtained by two different institutes, the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil) and TU Delft (The Netherlands), is presented.A pair of identical propellers, used for acoustic benchmark studies, were tested under the same conditions to compare the effects of the test rigs on the noise results. A good agreement is observed for thrust and torque. Some divergences on the acoustic data were observed. However, good agreement was noted at the first harmonic and overall sound pressure level, with a maximum difference of 1.8 and 2.8 dB, respectively.

This work focuses on the assessment of the accuracy of numerical prediction and experimental campaigns on providing the noise emissions of an isolated benchmark propeller. An experimental campaign is carried out with a model low-Reynolds propeller of 0.3 m diameter operating at high RPM, equivalent of a tip-Mach number (M ₁) of 0.37 and an advance ratio (J) of 0.4.Measurements are conducted on an open-test section wind tunnel, surrounded by an anechoic chamber. Simulations are carried out with the commercial software PowerFLOW and aim at reproducing the propeller geometry and conditions. BEMT-based noise estimations are also used to demonstrate the expected results. The discussion is focused on the uncertainties of the experimental campaign, and the current accuracy of numerical and analytical predictions, creating a complete picture of the discrepancies expected when predicting propeller noise levels and potential sources of errors. Results point to an accurate ability of the three methodologies to assess the overall noise emissions. Nevertheless, precise description and measurements of the higher harmonics of the tonal emissions and of the broadband noise levels is still lacking and require improvements in experimental conditions and a detailed assessment of the flow over the propeller.

With distributed propulsion and electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft on the rise, fast and accurate methods to simulate propeller slipstreams and their interaction with aircraft components are needed. In this work, we compare results obtained with a filament-based free wake panel method to experimental and previously validated numerical data. In particular, we study a propeller-wing configuration at zero angle of attack and the aerodynamics of the blade-resolved slipstream interaction with the wing. We use a prescribed wake on the wing and a free wake on the propeller, which greatly accelerate the computations. Results indicate that, while forces are overpredicted due to the inviscid nature of the panel method, the free wake is able to capture the slipstream deformation and shearing with remarkable success. We find that a filament-based free wake panel method can be a useful tool for propeller-wing interaction in preliminary aircraft design.

Numerical simulations of a wind turbine blade with and without trailing-edge serrations are validated with full-scale field test of a 130 m diameter onshore wind turbine. Simulations focus on trailing-edge noise and are conducted on extruded airfoil sections of the blade using the lattice-Boltzmann method and very large eddy simulations, which are then propagated to the far-field using the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings approach, simulating the rotation of the sections and the noise of the entire rotor. Far-field noise spectra at two mean wind speeds are used for validation, with the sound power level of the simulations being within 2.5 dB of field test and the total noise reductions attributed to the serrations being captured within 0.6 dB.

This paper aims to investigate, by means of Lattice-Boltzmann simulations, the flow-field and far-field noise of two co-axial co-rotating rotors operating at 3000 rpm in hover conditions. The two co-rotating configurations are made by 2×2-bladed rotors with a fixed axial separation and two different azimuthal separations Δϕ equal to 84∘ and 12∘. Isolated 2- and 4-bladed rotors, are also simulated at the same operating conditions and used as aerodynamic and aeroacoustic reference. For both Δϕ=84∘ and 12∘, the upper rotor tip vortices are accelerated downstream due to the induction from the lower rotor, avoiding blade vortex interaction (BVI). The lower rotor tip vortices convect into the wake with a lower velocity, causing BVI for Δϕ=12∘. The lower rotor shows a reduction of thrust, relative to the upper rotor, of 36% and 66% for Δϕ=84∘ and 12∘, respectively. For Δϕ=12∘, the lower blades act as a wing flap for the upper ones, increasing their thrust. The tonal noise emission for the co-rotating rotors is driven by the interference between the acoustic waves from upper and lower rotors. Because of destructive interference, the configuration Δϕ=84∘ shows a first harmonic up to 15 dB lower than Δϕ=12∘, but still 4.5 dB higher than the isolated 4-bladed rotor.

Distributed Electric Propulsion systems are an emerging technology. Aerodynamic interactions between propellers in close proximity can, however, cause periodic variations in the blade loading. Together with acoustic interference, these installation effects can form a dominant noise source in such systems. In this contribution, we investigate a low-cost computational modeling approach to predict the unsteady loading of the propeller blades, and thereby the interaction noise of an array of side-by-side propellers. To inform this low-cost model, a numerical campaign of scale-resolving Lattice Boltzmann/Very Large Eddy Simulations (LBM/VLES) has been performed on the Dutch National Supercomputer Snellius. The goal of this model development is to gain a better understanding of the blade-to-blade interaction mechanisms and to determine to which extent the model can be applied for purposes like preliminary design, uncertainty quantification, or control, for which the computational cost of high-fidelity simulations is prohibitive. As a practical example, the optimal relative phase angle in an array of propellers is determined and validated.

Correction Notice 1. The vertical axis ticks in the subfigures of Fig 10 should be reverted to align with the global coordinate system of the simulation domain. The updated figure is presented below. Not the one presented in the original manuscript. (Figure Presented).

This study presents a numerical investigation of the aerodynamic and aeroacoustics behavior of side-by-side rotors in proximity to the ground. The configuration developed in the European H2020 project ENODISE is used as a reference. It features two counter-rotating APC 6x4 propellers, positioned at a height H/R = 2 above the ground, where R is the propeller radius, with a tip-to-tip distance S/R = 2, operating at a rotational speed of 167 Hz. Scale-resolved simulation is carried out using the Lattice-Boltzmann/Very-Large-Eddy-Simulation CFD solver SIMULIA PowerFLOW®. Analysis of the data describes the spatio-temporal of the flow field and describes in detail the bi-stable behavior of wake in the presence of the ground, which is then re-ingested by the rotor disks. This motion, occurring at a frequency two orders of magnitude lower than the rotor blade passing frequency, is similar to what was found experimentally. In addition, the present work shows the impact of this phenomenon on far-field noise by comparing sound pressure levels (SPL) pre- and post-re-ingestion in a semi-spherical manner. The findings reveal a significant increase in SPL across a broad frequency range as the occurrence of the re-ingestion.