A Study on the Aerodynamic Noise of a Supersonic Exhaust Nozzle of Slotted Tube

Abstract

The objective of this study is to experimentally investigate the noise propagating characteristics, the noise reduction mechanism and the performance of a slotted tube attached at the exit plane of a circular convergent nozzle. The experiment is performed through the systematic change of the jet pressure ratio and the slot length under the condition of two kinds of open area ratios, 25% and 51%. The open area ratio calculated by the tube length equivalent for the slot length is defined as the ratio of the total slot area to the surface area of a slotted tube. The experimental results for the near and far field sound, the visualization of jet structures and the static pressure distributions in the jet passing through a slotted tube are presented and explained in comparison with those for a simple tube. The propagating characteristics of supersonic jet noises from the slotted tube is closely connected with the slot length rather than the open area ratio, and its propagating pattern is similar to the simple tube. It is shown that the slotted tube has a good performance to suppress the shock-associated noise as well as the turbulent mixing noise in the range of a limited jet pressure and slot dimension. The considerable suppression of the shock‘associated noise is mainly due to the pressure relief caused by the high-speed jets passing through the slots on the tube. Both the strength of shock waves and the interval between them in a jet plume are decreased by the pressure relief. Moreover, the pressure relief is divided into the gradual and the sudden relief depending upon the open area ratio of the slotted tube. Consequently, the shock waves in a jet plume are also changed by the type of pressure relief. The gradual pressure relief caused by the slotted tube with the open area ratio 25% generates the weak oblique shock waves. On the contrary, the weak normal shock waves appear due to the sudden pressure relief caused by the slotted tube with the open area ratio 51%.