Combustion noise is central to several efforts to curb aircraft emissions. Indeed, acoustic waves originating in the combustor are a major contributor to aircraft noise. Moreover, they can act as a trigger for thermoacoustic instabilities, the consequences of which may range from decreased efficiency to outright failure. Modern engines designed to lower NOx emissions are particularly susceptible to this phenomenon. Unsteady combustion generates acoustic waves — direct noise — as well as convected flow disturbances, such as entropic, vortical or compositional inhomogeneities. These disturbances generate additional acoustic waves — indirect noise — if they are accelerated. The main objectives of this thesis are to examine the validity of current theoretical models for indirect noise, and to propose new ones where needed. First, a one-dimensional theoretical framework for the direct and indirect noise produced in a reflective environment is presented. The direct noise produced by the addition of mass, momentum and energy to a flow is determined analytically. A model for the entropic and compositional noise generated at a compact nozzle is then derived, accounting for nozzles with non-uniform entropy. Finally, the effect of reverberation (i.e. repeated acoustic reflections) is determined analytically. This enables direct and indirect acoustic sources to be identified and separated within experimental data, while eliminating the effect of acoustic reflections. The framework is applied to a model experiment — the Cambridge Wave Generator — in which direct, entropic and compositional noise are generated. Direct and indirect noise models are validated using experimental measurements of the sound field resulting from air injection and extraction, heat addition and helium injection. For the first time, direct, entropic and compositional noise are clearly identified in the experimental data, and shown to be in line with theoretical predictions. The results provide the first experimental demonstration of the compositional noise mechanism, and show that isentropic nozzle models are inadequate in predicting the indirect noise generated at nozzles with substantial losses.

Une part importante du bruit généré par les moteurs d'avion est liée à la combustion. Afin de réduire cette source de bruit, une compréhension fine des phénomènes associés est nécessaire. Deux mécanismes générateurs de bruit, et ayant pour origine la combustion, ont été identifié dans les moteurs d'avions dans les années 1970: un premier mécanisme dit direct, qui est lié directement à un dégagement de chaleur instationnaire, et l'autre dit indirect qui est lié aux interactions entre les étages de turbine et les fluctuations de température en sortie de chambre, également produites par la combustion. Des méthodes analytiques et des simulations numériques sont utilisées ici à la fois pour montrer l'importance du bruit de combustion indirect par rapport au bruit direct, et pour donner des limites de validité des approches analytiques qui sont basées sur l'hypothèse de tuyère compacte. Trois configurations différentes sont étudiées dans un premier temps: une tuyère quasi-1-D, une tuyère axi-symétrique 2-D, ainsi qu'une aube de turbine 2-D. Finalement, un secteur de chambre de combustion 3-D réelle (SNECMA) est calculé à l'aide de la Simulation aux Grandes Echelles. Les fluctuations en sortie du brûleur sont utilisées pour évaluer le bruit total généré par la combustion (direct et indirect) à l'aide des approches analytiques précédemment étudiées. / An important part of the noise generated by aero-engines is caused by the combustion. To decrease this source of noise, a precise comprehension of the underlying phenomenon is required. Two different mechanisms generating noise in aero-engines because of the combustion have been identified in the 1970’s: the direct mechanism that is directly related to the unsteady heat release, and the indirect one that is caused by the interactions between the turbine stages and the temperature fluctuations also produced by the combustion. Analytical methods and numerical simulations are used here both to show the importance of the indirect combustion noise compared with the direct one, and to provide some validity limits of compact nozzles analytical approaches. Three different configurations dealing with indirect noise are investigated: quasi-1- D nozzle, axisymmetric 2-D nozzle and 2-D turbine blade. Finally, an actual 3-D combustion chamber sector (SNECMA) is addressed with Large-Eddy Simulation. Fluctuations at the outlet of the combustor are used to compute the overall noise caused by the combustion (direct and indirect), by means of the investigated analytical models.