Flow-Induced Noise of Perforated Plates at Oblique Angles of Incidence

Abstract

In this thesis, the tonal noise produced by flow over perforated plates at oblique angles of incidence is studied experimentally. A two-dimensional model of a perforated plate is used, where the circular holes of a typical perforated plate are replaced by a series of long rectangular Aluminum slats with an adjustable gap width between them. The slats are 3.175 mm thick and the gap width between them is set to 3.175 mm, 6.35 mm, and 12.7 mm. This simplified model is mounted at the exit of an open-loop wind tunnel and tested at angles of incidence of 0° to 40° and flow velocities of 0 to 30 m/s. An angle of 0° is defined as flow parallel to the plate. The acoustic response is studied using microphone measurements, and flow visualization is done using particle image velocimetry. The effect of the angle of incidence, flow velocity, gap width, and streamwise position are investigated. The flow visualization reveals that tonal noise is produced by the periodic shedding and impingement of vortices at the trailing edge of the gaps. Vortices form in the unstable free shear layer originating at the leading edge of the gap and impinge on the downstream side of the gap. At the downstream corner, these vortices separate into vortex pairs, consisting of one positively rotating and one negatively rotating vortex. These vortices are shed periodically, leading to the production of tonal noise at the shedding frequency. The effect of the angle of incidence is investigated by changing the angle of the plate with respect to the flow. For a given gap width, tones are produced only for a specific range of angles. Depending on the plate geometry, this range of angles is typically around 5° to 30°. Within this range of angles, the free shear layer impinges on the downstream side of the gap. For angles which are too small or too large, the free shear layer misses this downstream side and tones are not produced. For a larger gap width, tones are produced at smaller angles of incidence. Similarly, for a given plate geometry, there is a preferred range of flow velocities at which tonal noise is produced. The velocity at which the free shear layer is the most unstable at the tone frequency produces the strongest vortices and the loudest tones. The optimal velocity is lower for larger gap widths. Finally, it is found that the magnitude of the produced tones increases in the streamwise direction over repeated gaps along the length of the plate. This is due to the local flow conditions changing in the streamwise direction, only reaching the optimal conditions after a certain length of the plate.