ALBERT

Description: A family of high aspect ratio nozzles were designed to provide a parametric database of canonical embedded propulsion concepts. Nozzle throat geometries with aspect ratios of 2:1, 4:1, and 8:1 were chosen, all with convergent nozzle areas. The transition from the typical round duct to the rectangular nozzle was designed very carefully to produce a flow at the nozzle exit that was uniform and free from swirl. Once the basic rectangular nozzles were designed, external features common to embedded propulsion systems were added: extended lower lip (a.k.a. bevel, aft deck), differing sidewalls, and chevrons. For the latter detailed Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were made to predict the thrust performance and to optimize parameters such as bevel length, and chevron penetration and azimuthal curvature. Seventeen of these nozzles were fabricated at a scale providing a 2.13 inch diameter equivalent area throat." ! The seventeen nozzles were tested for far-field noise and a few data were presented here on the effect of aspect ratio, bevel length, and chevron count and penetration. The sound field of the 2:1 aspect ratio rectangular jet was very nearly axisymmetric, but the 4:1 and 8:1 were not, the noise on their minor axes being louder than the major axes. Adding bevel length increased the noise of these nozzles, especially on their minor axes, both toward the long and short sides of the beveled nozzle. Chevrons were only added to the 2:1 rectangular jet. Adding 4 chevrons per wide side produced some decrease at aft angles, but increased the high frequency noise at right angles to the jet flow. This trend increased with increasing chevron penetration. Doubling the number of chevrons while maintaining their penetration decreased these effects. Empirical models of the parametric effect of these nozzles were constructed and quantify the trends stated above." Because it is the objective of the Supersonics Project that future design work be done more by physics-based computations and less by experiments, several codes under development were evaluated against these test cases. Preliminary results show that the RANS-based code JeNo predicts the spectral directivity of the low aspect ratio jets well, but has no capability to predict the non-axisymmetry. An effort to address this limitations, used in the RANS-based code of Leib and Goldstein, overpredicted the impact of aspect ratio. The broadband shock noise code RISN, also limited to axisymmetric assumptions, did a good job of predicting the spectral directivity of underexpanded 2:1 cold jet case but was not as successful on high aspect ratio jets, particularly when they are hot. All results are preliminary because the underlying CFD has not been validated yet. An effort using a Large Eddy Simulation code by Stanford University predicted noise that agreed with experiments to within a few dB.

Description: A series of convergent rectangular nozzles of aspect ratios 2:1, 4:1, and 8:1 were constructed with uniform exit velocity profiles. Additional nozzles were constructed that extended the wide lip on one side of these nozzles to form beveled nozzles. Far-field acoustic measurements were made and analyzed, and the results presented. The impact of aspect ratio on jet noise was similar to that of enhanced mixing devices: reduction in aft, peak frequency noise with an increase in broadside, high frequency noise. Azimuthally, it was found that rectangular jets produced more noise directed away from their wide sides than from their narrow sides. The azimuthal dependence decreased at aft angles where noise decreased. The effect of temperature, keeping acoustic Mach number constant, was minimal. Since most installations would have the observer on the wide size of the nozzle, the increased high frequency noise has a deleterious impact on the observer. Extending one wide side of the rectangular nozzle, evocative of an aft deck in an installed propulsion system, increased the noise of the jet with increasing length. The impact of both aspect ratio and bevel length were relatively well behaved, allowing a simple bilinear model to be constructed relative to a simple round jet.

Description: A series of convergent rectangular nozzles of aspect ratios 2:1, 4:1, and 8:1 were constructed with uniform exit velocity profiles. Additional nozzles were constructed that extended the wide lip on one side of these nozzles to form beveled nozzles. Far-field acoustic measurements were made and analyzed, and the results presented. The impact of aspect ratio on jet noise was similar to that of enhanced mixing devices: reduction in aft, peak frequency noise with an increase in broadside, high frequency noise. Azimuthally, it was found that rectangular jets produced more noise directed away from their wide sides than from their narrow sides. The azimuthal dependence decreased at aft angles where noise decreased. The effect of temperature, keeping acoustic Mach number constant, was minimal. Since most installations would have the observer on the wide size of the nozzle, the increased high frequency noise has a deleterious impact on the observer. Extending one wide side of the rectangular nozzle, evocative of an aft deck in an installed propulsion system, increased the noise of the jet with increasing length. The impact of both aspect ratio and bevel length were relatively well behaved, allowing a simple bilinear model to be constructed relative to a simple round jet.

Description: A 48-microphone planar phased array system was used to acquire jet noise source localization data on both a full-scale F404-GE-F400 engine and on a 1/4th scale model of a F400 series nozzle. The full-scale engine test data show the location of the dominant noise sources in the jet plume as a function of frequency for the engine in both baseline (no chevron) and chevron configurations. Data are presented for the engine operating both with and without afterburners. Based on lessons learned during this test, a set of recommendations are provided regarding how the phased array measurement system could be modified in order to obtain more useful acoustic source localization data on high-performance military engines in the future. The data obtained on the 1/4th scale F400 series nozzle provide useful insights regarding the full-scale engine jet noise source mechanisms, and document some of the differences associated with testing at model-scale versus fullscale.

Description: Two embodiments of a rectangular nozzle on an aft deck are compared. In one embodiment the lower lip of the nozzle was extended with the sidewalls becoming triangles. In a second embodiment a rectangular nozzle was fitted with a surface that fit flush to the lower lip and extended outward from the sides of the nozzle, approximating a semi-infinite plane. For the purpose of scale-model testing, making the aft deck an integral part of the nozzle is possible for relatively short deck lengths, but a separate plate model is more flexible, accounts for the expanse of deck to the sides of the nozzle, and allows the nozzle to stand off from the deck. Both embodiments were tested and acoustic far-field results were compared. In both embodiments the extended deck introduces a new noise source, but the amplitude of the new source was dependent upon the span (cross-stream dimension) of the aft deck. The noise increased with deck length (streamwise dimension), and in the case of the beveled nozzle it increased with increasing aspect ratio. In previous studies of slot jets in wings it was noted that the increased noise from the extended aft deck appears as a dipole at the aft deck trailing edge, an acoustic source type with different dependence on velocity than jet mixing noise. The extraneous noise produced by the aft deck in the present studies also shows this behavior both in directivity and in velocity scaling.

Description: The noise created by a supersonic aircraft is a primary concern in the design of future high-speed planes. The jet noise reduction technologies required on these aircraft will be developed using scale-models mounted to experimental jet rigs designed to simulate the exhaust gases from a full-scale jet engine. The jet noise data collected in these experiments must accurately predict the noise levels produced by the full-scale hardware in order to be a useful development tool. A methodology has been adopted at the NASA Glenn Research Center s Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory to insure the quality of the supersonic jet noise data acquired from the facility s High Flow Jet Exit Rig so that it can be used to develop future nozzle technologies that reduce supersonic jet noise. The methodology relies on mitigating extraneous noise sources, examining the impact of measurement location on the acoustic results, and investigating the facility independence of the measurements. The methodology is documented here as a basis for validating future improvements and its limitations are noted so that they do not affect the data analysis. Maintaining a high quality jet noise laboratory is an ongoing process. By carefully examining the data produced and continually following this methodology, data quality can be maintained and improved over time.