Far-Field Sound Research Articles

Near- and Far-Field Acoustic Characteristics and Sound Source Localization Performance of Low-Noise Propellers with Gapped Gurney Flap

With the rapid industrialization utilizing multi-rotor drones in recent years, an increase in urban flights is expected in the near future. This may potentially result in noise pollution due to the operation of drones. This study investigates the near- and far-field acoustic characteristics of low-noise propellers inspired by Gurney flaps. In addition, we examine the impact of these low-noise propellers on the sound source localization performance of drones equipped with a microphone array, which are expected to be used for rescuing people in disasters. Results from in-flight noise measurements indicate significant noise reduction mainly in frequency bands above 1 kHz in both the near- and far-field. An improvement in the success rate of sound source localization with low-noise propellers was also observed. However, the influence of the position of the microphone array with respect to the propellers is more pronounced than that of propeller shape manipulation, suggesting the importance of considering the positional relationships. Computational fluid dynamics analysis of the flow field around the propellers suggests potential mechanisms for noise reduction in the developed low-noise propellers. The results obtained in this study hold potential for contributing to the development of integrated drones aimed at reducing noise and improving sound source localization performance.

Broadband Waterborne Multiphase Pentamode Metastructure with Simultaneous Wavefront Manipulation and Energy Absorption Capabilities.

Acoustic metastructures are artificial structures which can manipulate the wavefront in sub-wavelength dimensions, and previously proposed acoustic metastructures have been mostly realized with single materials. An acoustic metastructure with composite structure is proposed for underwater acoustic stealth considering both wavefront manipulation and sound absorption. The unit cells of the metastructure are composed of a metallic supporting lattice, interconnecting polymer materials and mass balancing columns. With the gradual modulations of equivalent physical properties along the horizontal direction of metastructure, the incident acoustic wave is reflected to other directions. Meanwhile, the polymer material inside the unit cells will dissipate the acoustic wave energy due to inherent damping properties. With the simultaneous modulations of reflected wave direction and scattering acoustic amplitude, significant improvement of the underwater stealth effect is achieved. Compared with single-phase metastructure, the Far-Field Sound Pressure Level (FFSPL) of multiphase metastructure decreases by 4.82 dB within the frequency range of 3 kHz~30 kHz. The linearized mean stress for multiphase metastructure is only 1/3 of that of single-phase metastructure due to it having much thicker struts and much more uniform stress distribution under the same hydrostatic pressure. The proposed composite structure possesses potential applications due to its acceptable thickness (80 mm) and low equivalent density (1100 kg/m3).

Prediction of Far-Field Sound Radiation Using Blocked Pressures and Reciprocally Measured Vibro-acoustic Frequency Response Functions

In industry, the use of blocked forces for the characterisation of structure borne sound sources is now common practice, whereas the sound power is typically used for airborne sound sources. In principle, it should also be possible to use blocked forces (or blocked pressures) to predict airborne sound radiation using a similar approach and measurement methodology as the in-situ blocked force method. This is achieved by discretising the surface of the source into small unit cells, and measuring the vibration velocity whilst operational. In order to convert these velocities to blocked forces, the mobility of the source for each of the positions must also be known: and to predict the radiated sound, a measured vibro-acoustic frequency response function is also required. Typically vibro-acoustic FRFs are measured by exciting the structure with an instrumented hammer or shaker, but they may also be measured reciprocally using a volume velocity source. Described in the paper is an experiment conducted in a fully anechoic chamber to investigate the feasibility of the above approach, i.e. using blocked pressure and reciprocally measured vibro-acoustic FRFs to characterise and predict airborne sound. The method is validated by comparing the directly measured radiated sound pressure to that which is predicted according to the above.

An Analytical Solution for the Vibration and Far-Field Sound Radiation Analysis of Finite, Semisubmerged Cylindrical Shells

The vibration response and far-field sound radiation of a semisubmerged, finite cylindrical shell with low-frequency excitation are studied. The solution to this problem can be divided into two steps. The first step is to apply the wave propagation approach to determine the vibration response of the cylindrical shell. In the cylindrical coordinate system, the Flügge shell equations and Laplace equation are used to describe the cylindrical shell and surrounding fluid so that the vibration responses of the shell can be addressed analytically. The fluid free surface effect is taken into account by applying the sine series to force the velocity potential on the free surface to be zero. Furthermore, compared with the FEM (the finite element method), the present method is not only reliable but also effective. In the second step, the far-field sound radiation is solved by the Fourier transform technique and the stationary phase method in accordance with the vibration responses of the shell from the previous step. The boundary element method is applied to validate the reliability of the acoustical radiation calculation. The circumferential directivity of far-field sound pressure is discussed, and it is found that the maximum value of the sound pressure always appears directly under the structure when the driving frequencies are relatively low. Besides, in consideration of simplicity and less computation effort, the present method can be used for the rapid prediction of the vibration and far-field sound pressure of a semisubmerged cylindrical shell with low-frequency excitation.

Clarification of the Far-Field Sound and Wake Characteristics of a Tapered Circular Cylinder

Clarification of the Far-Field Sound and Wake Characteristics of a Tapered Circular Cylinder

Prediction of Far-Field Sound Pressure of a Semisubmerged Cylindrical Shell With Low-Frequency Excitation

A sound–structure interaction model is established to study the vibroacoustic characteristics of a semisubmerged cylindrical shell using the wave propagation approach (WPA). The fluid free surface effect is taken into account by satisfying the sound pressure release condition. Then, the far-field sound pressure is predicted with shell's vibration response using the stationary phase method. Modal coupling effect arises due to the presence of the fluid free surface. New approaches are proposed to handle this problem, i.e., diagonal coupling acoustic radiation model (DCARM) and column coupling acoustic radiation model (CCARM). New approaches are proved to be able to deal with the modal coupling problem efficiently with a good accuracy at a significantly reduced computational cost. Numerical results also indicate that the sound radiation characteristics of a semisubmerged cylindrical shell are quite different from those from the shell fully submerged in fluid. But the far-field sound pressure of a semisubmerged shell fluctuates around that from the shell ideally submerged in fluid. These new approaches can also be used to study the vibroacoustic problems of cylindrical shells partially coupled with fluid.

Far-Field Sound Radiation Due to an Installed Open Rotor

Future single rotation propeller and contra-rotating advanced open rotor concepts promise a significant fuel efficiency advantage over current generation turbofan engines. The development of rotors which produce a minimum level of noise is a critical technical issue which needs to be resolved in order for these concepts to become viable aircraft propulsors. Noise and emissions are subject to stringent legislative requirements, thus accurate models are required in order to predict the noise radiated from aircraft engines. In this article, the development of a theoretical model to predict noise levels of an installed open rotor is reported. First a canonical problem is examined: how to predict the pressure field produced by a rotating ring of point sources adjacent to a rigid cylinder. Analytic expressions for the far-field pressure from a rotating ring of single-frequency monopole and dipole point sources, located near an infinitely long rigid cylinder, immersed in a constant axial mean flow, are explicitly formulated. Illustrative results show how the far-field pressure is affected by varying the source rotational direction, source location and source radius. Next the solution of the canonical problem is utilized to formulate a more advanced model to predict the noise due to an installed open rotor. In this model, the rotor noise sources are represented by a distribution of rotating sources. The adjacent aircraft fuselage is modeled by the rigid cylinder, and the effect of the fuselage boundary layer and other steady distortions are neglected. Also neglected is the scattering from other surfaces such as the pylon, wing and centerbody. This distributed source model can be used to calculate the effect of scattering of open rotor noise by an adjacent cylindrical fuselage. The model can be used to calculate both rotor-alone tones and tones produced by periodic unsteady loading on the rotor blades. Practical examples are provided which show how the effect of blade rotational direction and propeller location relative to the fuselage affect the sound produced by the interaction of a pylon wake with a rotor in a pusher configuration.