The spectral broadening of sound by turbulent shear layers. Part 1. The transmission of sound through turbulent shear layers

Abstract

The transmission of sound through a turbulent shear layer is reviewed both with respect to the mathematical theory of the distortion of signals during propagation and also as the basis of the analysis in part 2 of the spectral broadening evinced by experimental results relevant to the study of aircraft noise. The reflexion and transmission coefficients, which involve both amplitude and phase changes, are obtained for scattering by an irregular and unsteady interface convected between two media; diffraction of high frequency sound by small-scale turbulence in a shear layer is accounted for by means of a phase shift and conservation laws for energy, wavenumber and amplitude. These results may be used to construct the sound field transmitted through a turbulent shear layer from a source in the interior of a jet; multiple internal reflexions are accounted for in the case of transmission through two parallel shear layers, i.e. a jet of finite width shielding a noise source. A statistical description is given of the process of attenuation of the transmitted wave as energy is diffracted by the turbulence, and of the partial compensation by interference between correlated components of the refracted wave; the reference case is a monochromatic point source, which, when placed behind a system of shear layers, has its energy redistributed directionally and spread over a range of frequencies. The expressions obtained for the energy flux include as particular cases the results of Howe for the plane (1975) and impedance (1976) layers, the effects of turbulence being shown to be consistent with the experiments of Schmidt & Tilmann (1970) and Ho & Kovasznay (1976a, b).