Acoustic noise pollution is an environmental aggressor in everyday life. Aero- dynamically generated noise annoys and was linked with health issues. It may be caused by high-speed turbulent free flows (e.g. aircraft jet exhausts), by airflow interacting with solid surfaces (e.g. fan noise, wind turbine noise), or it may arise within a confined flow environment (e.g. air ventilation systems, refrigeration systems). Hence, reducing the acoustic noise levels would result in a better life quality, where a systematic approach to decrease the acoustic noise radiation is required to guarantee optimal results. Computational predic- tion methods able to provide all the required flow quantities with the desired temporal and spatial resolutions are perfectly suited in such application areas, when supplementing restricted experimental investigations. This thesis focuses on the use of numerical methodologies in compressible flow applications to understand aerodynamically noise generation mechanisms and to assess technologies used to suppress it. Robust and fast steady-state Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) based formulations are employed for the optimal design process, while the high fidelity Large Eddy Simulation (LES) approach is utilized to reveal the detailed flow physics and to investigate the acoustic noise production mechanisms. The employment of fast methods on a wide range of cases represents a brute-force strategy used to scrutinize the optimization parameter space and to provide general behavioral trends. This in combination with accurate simulations performed for particular condi- tions of interest becomes a very powerful approach. Advance post-processing techniques (i.e. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition and Dynamic Mode Decomposition) have been employed to analyze the intricate, highly turbulent flows. The impact of using fluidic injection inside a convergent-divergent nozzle for acoustic noise suppression is analyzed, first using steady-state RANS simulations. More than 250 cases are investigated for the optimal injection location and angle, amount of injected flow and operating conditions. Based on a-priori established criteria, a few optimal candidate solutions are detected from which one geometrical configuration is selected for being thoroughly investigated by using detailed LES calculations. This allows analyzing the unsteady shock pattern movement and the flow structures resulting with fluidic injec- tion. When investigating external fluidic injection configurations, some lead to a high amplitude shock associated noise, so-called screech tones. Such unsteady phenomena can be captured and explained only by using unsteady simulations. Another complex flow scenario demonstrated using LES is that of a high ve- locity jet ejected into a confined convergent-divergent ejector (i.e. a jet pump). The standing wave pattern developed in the confined channel and captured by LES, significantly alters the acoustic noise production. Steady-state methods failed to predict such events. The unsteady highly resolved simulations proved to be essential for analyzing flow and acoustics phenomena in complex problems. This becomes a very powerful approach when is used together with steady-state, low time-consuming formulations and when complemented with experimental measurements. / <p>QC 20141202</p>

Turbochargers play an important role in increasing the energetic efficiency andreducing emissions of modern power-train systems based on downsized recipro-cating internal combustion engines (ICE). The centrifugal compressor in tur-bochargers is limited at off-design operating conditions by the inception of flowinstabilities causing rotating stall and surge. They occur at reduced enginespeeds (low mass flow rates), i.e. typical operating conditions for a betterengine fuel economy, harming ICEs efficiency. Moreover, unwanted unsteadypressure loads within the compressor are induced; thereby lowering the com-pressors operating life-time. Amplified noise and vibration are also generated,resulting in a notable discomfort. The thesis aims for a physics-based understanding of flow instabilities andthe surge inception phenomena using numerical methods. Such knowledge maypermit developing viable surge control technologies that will allow turbocharg-ers to operate safer and more silent over a broader operating range. Therefore,broadband turbulent enabled compressible Large Eddy Simulation (LES) cal-culations have been performed and several flow-driven instabilities have beencaptured under unstable conditions. LES produces large amounts of 3D datawhich has been post-processed using Fourier spectra and Dynamic Mode De-composition (DMD). These techniques are able to quantify modes in the flowfield by extracting large coherent flow structures and characterize their relativecontribution to the total fluctuation energy at associated. Among the mainfindings, a dominant mode was found which describes the filling and emptyingprocess during surge. A narrowband feature at half of the rotating order wasidentified to correspond to co-rotating vortices upstream of the impeller faceas well as elevated velocity magnitude regions propagating tangentially in thediffuser and the volute. Dominant mode shapes were also found at the rotatingorder frequency and its harmonics, which manifest as a spinning mode shapelocalized at the diffuser inlet. From the compressible LES flow solution one can extract the acoustic infor-mation and the noise affiliated with the compressor. This enable through datacorrelation quantifying the flow-acoustics coupling phenomena in the compres-sor. Detailed comparison of flow (pressure, velocity) and aeroacoustics (soundpressure levels) predictions in terms of time-averaged, fluctuating quantities,and spectra is carried out against experimental measurements. / <p>QC 20160406</p>