Investigation of Noise Sources in Three-Stream Jets using Turbulence Characteristics

Key areas of noise sources are investigated through comparison of eddy convection velocity and turbulence measurements in three-stream nozzles. A Time-Resolved Doppler Global Velocimetry (TR-DGV) Instrument was applied to the Nozzle Acoustic Test Rig (NATR) at NASA's Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Lab (AAPL) to measure convection velocity. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements provided mean velocity and turbulence intensity. Eddy convection velocity results were obtained from the TR-DGV data for three-stream nozzle configurations using a cross-correlation approach. The three-stream cases included an axisymmetric and an asymmetric nozzle configuration. Results of the VT TR-DGV convection velocity were compared to NASA PIV mean and turbulence intensity data. For the axisymmetric case, areas of high convection velocity and turbulence intensity were found to be from 4 to 6 diameters downstream. Comparison of convection velocity between the axisymmetric and offset case show this same region as the greatest reduction in convection velocity due to the offset. These findings suggest this region along the centerline near the end of the potential core is an important area for noise generation with jets and contribute to the noise reductions seen from three stream offset nozzles. An analysis of a one-dimensional wavepacket model was completed to provide understanding of the effect of the various convection velocities seen in the flow. Comparison of a wavepacket with a convection velocity of 0.6Uj to a wavepacket with a convection velocity of 0.8Uj showed that an increase in convection velocity shifts the wavenumber spectrum to higher wavenumbers as expected. It was also observed that for the higher convection velocity wavepacket, higher frequencies are more acoustically efficient, while mid frequencies are the most efficient radiators in the lower convection velocity case. Using mean velocity, turbulence intensity, and convection velocity areas of likely to generate noise are identified and possible fundamental mechanisms responsible for the noise generation are discussed.