Fluid–acoustic interactions around an expanding pipe with orifice plates

Abstract

Expanding pipes with orifice plates are often utilized as silencers for fluid machinery. However, intense tonal sounds can be generated from a flow through such expanding pipes. To clarify the mechanism of tonal sound from a flow through a circular expanding pipe with two orifice plates and the conditions for intense acoustic radiation, the flow and acoustic fields are directly solved based on the compressible Navier–Stokes equations. Phase-averaged flow fields indicate the occurrence of periodic vortex shedding in the free shear layers of the expanding pipe, resulting in acoustic radiation. The effects of the orifice radius and freestream Mach number on the acoustic radiation are focused on. The computational results demonstrate that vortex rings or spiral vortices are generated in the cavities formed by the orifice plates, where the primary vortical shape changes, depending on the freestream Mach number and orifice radius. The collision of the vortex ring and spiral vortex with the orifice plate or downstream edge of the expanding pipe leads to the occurrence of circumferentially in-phase and one-wavelength-mode pressure fluctuations, respectively. The orifice radius also affects the convective velocity of vortices and the position of the acoustic source, varying the frequency of the acoustic radiation. The findings of this research provide the first clarifications of fluid–acoustic interactions in an expanding pipe with orifice plates.