Experimental and Numerical Study on Aerodynamic Noise Reduction of Cylindrical Rod with Bionic Wavy Surface

Abstract

Inspired by the non-smooth structure of the leading edge of owls wing,a bionic wavy cylindrical surface is proposed in this paper to reduce the aerodynamic noise of a cylindrical rod. The effects of bionic wavy surface on the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic performance of the cylinder are investigated by wind tunnel and numerical simulation. The fluctuating pressure of the smooth cylinder and the bionic wavy surface cylinder are tested by pulsating pressure sensors in FD-09 low speed wind tunnel of China Aerospace Aerodynamics Research Institute. The fluctuating pressure of the bionic wavy surface cylinder is significantly lower than that of the smooth cylinder. We used the software ANSYS FLUENT to research the effect of the bionic wavy surface on the aerodynamic characteristics and aerodynamic noise of a cylinder by the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings (FW-H) equation. Compared with the smooth cylinder, the aerodynamic noise of the bionic wavy cylinder is reduced by 6.7dB. A study of the relationship between the fluctuating lift and the aerodynamic noise size is conducted. We found that the sound pressure level of the wavy surface cylinder is significantly lower when the lift fluctuation amplitude decreased. Bionic wavy surface can effectively restrain the separated shear layer transition to turbulence. The frequency of vortex shedding which causes the lift fluctuations is reduced, so the aerodynamic noise of the circular cylinder is reduced. Keywords: bionics, cylindrical rod, wavy surface, aerodynamic noise, flow control