Acoustic scattering by a spliced turbofan inlet duct liner at supersonic fan speeds

Abstract

Fan noise is one of the principal noise sources generated by a turbofan aero-engine. At supersonic fan speeds, fan tones are generated by the “rotor-alone” pressure field. In general, these tones can be well absorbed by an inlet duct acoustic liner, apart from at high supersonic fan speeds. However, in practice inlet duct liners contain acoustically hard longitudinal splices which cause scattering. This leads to acoustic energy being scattered into a range of different azimuthal mode orders, similar to the modal content resulting from rotor–stator interactions. The effectiveness of an inlet duct lining is reduced because acoustic energy is scattered into modes that are poorly absorbed by the liner. In this article, the effect of this acoustic scattering is examined by three-dimensional finite-element simulations of sound transmission in a turbofan inlet duct. Results include predictions of the sound power transmission loss with different splice widths, and at different supersonic fan speeds. These results demonstrate how acoustic scattering by liner splices can adversely affect fan tone noise levels at low supersonic fan speeds, but have little adverse affect on noise levels at high supersonic fan speeds. The potential noise benefit that could be achieved by manufacturing thinner splices is also examined.