Silencer for high-frequency turbocharger compressor noise via an acoustic straightener

Abstract

Decades of successful research and development on automotive silencers for engine breathing systems have brought about significant reductions in emitted engine noise. A majority of this research has pursued airborne noise at relatively low frequencies, which typically involve plane wave propagation. However, with the increasing demand for downsized turbocharged engines in passenger cars, high-frequency compressor noise has become a challenge in engine induction systems. Elevated frequencies promote multi-dimensional wave propagation rendering at times conventional silencer treatments ineffective due to the underlying assumption of one-dimensional wave propagation in their design. The present work focuses on developing a high-frequency silencer that targets tonal noise at the blade-pass frequency within the compressor inlet duct for a wide range of rotational speeds. The approach features a novel "acoustic straightener" that creates exclusive plane wave propagation near the silencing elements. An analytical treatment is combined with a three-dimensional acoustic finite element method to guide the early design process. The effects of mean flow and nonlinearities on acoustics are then captured by three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations. The configuration developed by the current computational effort will set the stage for further refinement through future experiments.