Turbulence and heat excited noise sources in single and coaxial jets

Abstract

The generation of noise in subsonic high Reynolds number single and coaxial turbulent jets is analyzed by a hybrid method. The computational approach is based on large-eddy simulations (LES) and solutions of the acoustic perturbation equations (APE). The method is used to investigate the acoustic fields of one isothermal single stream jet at a Mach number 0.9 and a Reynolds number 400,000 based on the nozzle diameter and two coaxial jets whose Mach number and Reynolds number based on the secondary jet match the values of the single jet. One coaxial jet configuration possesses a cold primary flow, whereas the other configuration has a hot primary jet. Thus, the configurations allow in a first step the analysis of the relationship of the flow and acoustic fields of a single and a cold coaxial jet and in a second step the investigation of the differences of the fluid mechanics and aeroacoustics of cold and hot coaxial jets. For the isothermal single jet the present hybrid acoustic computation shows convincing agreement with the direct acoustic simulation based on large-eddy simulations. The analysis of the acoustic field of the coaxial jets focuses on two noise sources, the Lamb vector fluctuations and the entropy sources of the APE equations. The power spectral density (PSD) distributions evidence the Lamb vector fluctuations to represent the major acoustic sources of the isothermal jet. Especially the typical downstream and sideline acoustic generations occur on a cone-like surface being wrapped around the end of the potential core. Furthermore, when the coaxial jet possesses a hot primary jet, the acoustic core being characterized by the entropy source terms increases the low frequency acoustics by up to 5 dB, i.e., the sideline acoustics is enhanced by the pronounced temperature gradient.