Trailing edge noise is a common noise source in aerodynamic applications, such as wind turbines, duct fan blades, and propellers. As sound is a nuisance for people near this machinery, methods of reducing trailing edge noise are being investigated. A proven method of trailing edge noise reduction is using a serrated trailing edge. Many prior experiments have shown that a trailing edge with sawtooth serrations can reduce trailing edge noise compared to a straight trailing edge, but the mechanism by which sawtooth serrations reduce noise is not fully understood. Previous theoretical models have assumed that the turbulence field convecting past a serrated trailing edge is unchanged by the presence of the serrations, but experiments have shown that this is not the case in reality. This work attempts to further explore the mechanisms behind why trailing edge serrations reduce trailing edge noise. Additionally, it evaluates the usefulness of a wall jet wind tunnel for use in the study of serrated trailing edges. Experiments were conducted in an anechoic wall jet wind tunnel using a straight trailing edge configuration and a serrated trailing edge configuration. It was found that there may be differences in the unsteady surface pressure over serrated edges in one-sided flows as compared to two-sided flows, like on that of an airfoil, most notably in relation to the magnitude of the unsteady pressure on the serrations. In the wall jet and in agreement with other studies, it was found that the unsteady pressure fluctuations increase towards the tip of the serration in one-sided flows. This is counter to what is found in some studies of two-sided flows. Good agreement was found between some models of the wavenumber-frequency wall pressure spectrum of a turbulent boundary layer and the measured wall pressure spectrum on the straight trailing edge, and these models also produced good predictions of the noise produced by this trailing edge using Amiet's equation. A surface pressure microphone array was used to estimate the zero spanwise wavenumber surface pressure spectrum. This spectrum was used in Amiet's method to predict the measured trailing edge noise. Predictions using the wavenumber-filtered measurement tended to overpredict the measured far field noise most likely due to the inclusion of broader wavenumber content through the array's side lobe response and the breadth of the main lobe. The serrated trailing edge was found to increase coherence between two points on the same serration while reducing coherence between two points on different serrations. It was concluded that the presence of the serrations decorrelates small-scale turbulent eddies. Additionally, it was found that while the serrated trailing edge did reduce the noise produced, its destructive effect on the geometry-based resonance of the straight trailing edge configuration may have amplified the magnitude of the reduction. Finally, it was concluded that the serrations do indeed affect the hydrodynamic field near the trailing edge, and the theoretical models which make the assumption otherwise must be refined. / Master of Science / Trailing edge noise is a common noise source in aerodynamic applications, such as wind turbines, duct fan blades, and propellers. As sound is a nuisance for people near this machinery, methods of reducing trailing edge noise are being investigated. A proven method of trailing edge noise reduction is using a serrated trailing edge. Many prior experiments have shown that a trailing edge with sawtooth serrations can reduce trailing edge noise compared to a straight trailing edge, but the mechanism by which sawtooth serrations reduce noise is not fully understood. This work attempts to further explore the mechanisms behind why trailing edge serrations reduce noise. Experiments were conducted in an anechoic wind tunnel facility. It was found that a one-sided flow over a serrated trailing edge may be significantly different from that over a two-sided flow. Good agreement was found between prediction models and measurements of trailing edge noise. The serrated trailing edge was effective at reducing the coherence of turbulent eddies across the roots of the sawtooth serrations. It was concluded that the serrated trailing edge is effective at reducing noise, and that one means of doing so is decreasing the correlation of small-scale turbulent eddies, and that current models of the flow over serrations may need to be refined.

Noise from fluid flow over rough surfaces is an important consideration in the design and performance of certain vehicles with high surface-area-to-perimeter ratios. A new method of noise control based on the anatomy of owls is developed and consists of fabric or fibrous canopies suspended above the surface. The method is tested experimentally and is found to reduce the total far-field noise emitted by the surface. The treatment also is found to reduce the magnitude of pressure fluctuations felt by the underlying surface by up to three orders of magnitude. Experimental investigations into the effects of geometric parameters of the canopies lead to an optimized design which maximizes noise reduction. The results obtained during the canopy experiment inspired a separate new device for the reduction of trailing edge noise. This type of noise is generated by flow past the wing of an aircraft or the blades of a wind turbine, and is a source of annoyance for those in surrounding communities. The newly developed treatment consists of small fins, or "finlets," placed near the trailing edge of an airfoil. The treatment is tested experimentally at near-full-scale conditions and is found to reduce the magnitude of far-field noise by up to 10 dB. Geometric parameters of the finlets are tested to determine the optimal size and spacing of the finlets to maximize noise reduction. Follow-up computational and experimental studies reveal the fluid mechanics behind the noise reduction by showing that the finlets produce a velocity deficit in the flow near the trailing edge and limit the magnitude and spanwise correlation lengthscale of turbulence near the trailing edge, factors which determine the magnitude of far-field noise. In a final experiment, the finlets are applied to a marine propeller and are found to reduce not only trailing edge noise, but also noise caused by the bluntness of the trailing edge. The results of this experiment show the potential usefulness of finlets to reduce noise from rotating systems, such as fans or propellers, as well as from structures which feature blunt trailing edges. / Ph. D. / As vehicles and other engineering structures, such as wind turbines, pass through the atmosphere or ocean, noise is produced when fluid is disturbed by their passage. The dominant source of this noise may be a certain geometrical or structural feature depending on the type of vehicle or structure in question. The noise from marine vehicles can be dominated by interaction between the fluid flow and any roughness present on the surface of the vehicle, and this is termed roughness noise. This noise can be detrimental to the performance and efficient operation of marine vehicles, and few options exist to suppress this noise apart from removing the roughness itself. As this is not always feasible if the structure’s design depends on the presence of roughness (for example, rivet heads which fasten structural components of the vehicle), other methods of noise control would be valuable. The noise from large, rotating wind turbines is dominated by interaction between the fluid flow and the sharp trailing edges of the turbine blades, termed trailing edge noise. This noise can travel significant distances from wind turbines and can be a source of annoyance for those living in nearby communities. New methods of noise control would significantly improve the quality of life in these communities and increase the viability and popularity of wind energy. This work takes inspiration from the anatomical features of silently-flying owls to develop new methods to control both roughness noise and trailing edge noise. Experiments and simulations were carried out to prove the effectiveness of these methods and to gain scientific understanding of the fluid mechanics responsible for noise reduction. The developments described in the present work give engineers new tools for designing future vehicles and wind turbines which operate more quietly and more efficiently.

This thesis documents trailing edge blowing research performed to reduce rotor / stator interaction noise in turbofan engines. The existing technique of filling every velocity deficit requires a large amount of air and is therefore impractical. The purpose of this research is to investigate new blowing configurations in order to achieve noise reduction with lesser amounts of air. Using the new configurations air is not injected into every fan blade, but is instead varied circumferentially. For example, blowing air may be applied to alternating fan blades. This type of blowing configuration both reduces the amount of air used and changes the spectral shape of the tonal interaction noise. The original tones at the blade passing frequency and its harmonics are reduced and new tones are introduced between them. This change in the tonal spectral shape increases the performance of acoustic liners used in conjunction with trailing edge blowing. This thesis presents numerical predictions performed to estimate the sound power reductions due to these concepts, as well as experimental results taken on the ANCF rig at NASA Glenn for validation purposes. The results show that the new concepts are successful in increasing the efficiency of trailing edge blowing. / Master of Science

In modern gas turbine engines, film cooling is extensively used to cool the components exposed to the hot mainstream gas path. In implementing film cooling on modern gas turbine engines, the trailing edge film poses a particularly challenging design problem. From an aerodynamic point of view, the trailing edge of a blade is designed to be as thin as possible. However, this conflicts with the implementation of the cooling design. The most common method of film cooling the trailing edge is via late pressure surface discrete film cooling holes. Another method of cooling the trailing edge is by using discrete pressure surface slots. This thesis documents a comparative aerodynamic and heat transfer study of three trailing edge cooling configurations. The study was carried out using a large scale, low speed wind tunnel situated at the Southwell Laboratory. The three trailing edge cooling configurations considered were as follows. First is the common late pressure film cooling of the trailing edge via discrete film cooling holes. This configuration is designated as datum configuration. Second is the pressure surface slot coolant ejection. This configuration was designated as cast cutback configuration. The third is the pressure surface ejection via discrete film cooling holes within a step cutback. This configuration was designated the machined cutback configuration. The above configurations were incorporated into three flat plates manufactured using stereolithography. In the aerodynamic study, the static pressure distribution and discharge coefficient for the three configurations were compared. Furthermore, two dimensional total pressure measurements were carried out using a traverse mechanism downstream of the test plates. The total pressure measurements were used to compute the mixed out losses for the three configurations. It was found that the datum and machined cutback configurations have similar discharge coefficients and mixed out losses whilst the cast cutback configuration produces greater mixed out loss. The film effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient on the pressure surface downstream of the coolant ejection was obtained using a steady state heat transfer technique. The effectiveness measurements were compared with those from the literature and correlated against the two dimensional slot model. The heat transfer measurements show that the cast cutback configuration has the potential to give higher effectiveness at the trailing edge.

In this thesis we explore several topics with applications to both aero and hydroacoustics. Due to the much larger speed of sound in water compared to in air, several of the approximations used in aeroacoustics are not applicable underwater over the range of frequencies of interest. Specifically, we study the finite-chord effects on two broadband noise mechanisms: the trailing edge noise and the ingested noise problems. We start by investigating the acoustic wave diffraction by a finite rigid plate using three different methods. We compare the behaviour of the different solutions as a function of the reduced acoustic wavenumber. Our results reveal that the Mathieu function expansion is the most appropriate method as long as the reduced acoustic wavenumber is not too large. Finally, we show how the Mathieu functions can be used to build a Green's function tailored to an elliptic cylinder of arbitrary aspect ratio without relying on addition theorems. The results obtained in chapter two motivated the search for an exact solution to the trailing edge noise problem using a Mathieu function expansion. It is shown that the approximate methods used in aeroacoustics are not accurate enough for reduced acoustic wavenumbers less than unity, and for all wavenumbers near cut-off. Furthermore it is shown that, even at low Mach numbers, it is crucial to take into account the effects of convection at low frequency. Finally Lighthill's analogy is used, combined with the tailored Green's function introduced previously, to recover the two asymptotic Mach number scalings of the acoustic power for a flat plate at high frequency and low frequency. In chapter four, we introduce a novel method to solve the ingested noise problem by decomposing the pressure field into a singular part whose functional form can easily be found, and a regular part that we express using a Mathieu function expansion. It was found that finite-chord effects do have a strong impact for reduced acoustic wavenumbers less than unity, and for all wavenumbers near cut-off. The following chapter focuses on the trailing edge noise mechanism and details how the theory for a single stationary aerofoil can be applied to a rotating propeller. Due to the general geometry of a blade, we extended Amiet's model to take into account a mean flow misaligned with the blade chordline. Different semi-analytical models of wall pressure spectra are introduced and compared. We make extensive use of Brooks' data for a NACA 0012 aerofoil to obtain realistic inputs in the semi-analytical models. Finally, we introduce and compare two models of rotating blade trailing edge noise. The effects of both the angle of attack and the number of strips are then investigated. The final chapter is distinct from the rest of the thesis. We propose a model for studying the low Mach number flow noise from a 2D circular cylinder with small roughness. The method is based on using the Green's function tailored to a smooth cylinder in Curle's acoustic analogy. It was found that the main source of noise was the tonal low frequency scattering by the smooth geometry. However, it is suggested that roughness elements might be the dominant source of noise at higher frequency.

The dropped objects are identified as one of the top ten causes of fatalities and serious injuries in the oil and gas industry. It is of importance to understand dynamics of dropped objects under water in order to accurately predict the motion of dropped objects and protect the underwater structures and facilities from being damaged. In this thesis, we study nondimensionalization of dynamic equations of dropped cylindrical objects. Nondimensionalization helps to reduce the number of free parameters, identify the relative size of effects of parameters, and gain a deeper insight of the essential nature of dynamics of dropped cylindrical objects under water. The resulting simulations of dimensionless trajectory confirms that drop angle, trailing edge and drag coefficient have the significant effects on dynamics of trajectories and landing location of dropped cylindrical objects under water.

This thesis will describe the works had been done by the author in the Flying Crane aircraft group design project and the new design of a novel swing arm mechanism which can be applied in the trailing edge high lift devices for this aircraft concept. Flying Crane aircraft is a new generation commercial airliner concept as the result of group design project conducted by China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I) and Cranfield University. At the end of the group design project, parameters such as take-off and landing distance, trailing edge flap type and deflection in take-off and landing configuration of the Flying Crane concept have been determined. These parameters are design input of the novel trailing edge high lift device mechanism for this aircraft concept. The idea of this innovative mechanism comes from the research achievement of a previous MSc student, Thomas Baxter, which applied swing arm mechanism into a passenger aircraft's leading edge slat. This thesis applied this idea to trailing edge flap and modeled the mechanism on CATIA software to yield a kinematic simulation for the purpose of check motion trail and force transfer in this mechanism. Relevant works such as actuation, mass and stress analysis are also involved. As the result of this research project, it was found that swing arm mechanism trends to require relatively small fairings for supports and attachments due to its high stowed space utilizing efficiency. Initial mass estimation carried out in this thesis also indicates that the new design takes advantage in terms of weight comparing with traditional trailing edge flap mechanisms. Thus. swing arm mechanism is supposed to show great competitive potential for commercial airliner's trailing edge flaps after further analysis has been done in the detail design phase.

Alleviating loads on a wind turbine blades would allow a reduction in weight, and potentially increase the size and lifespan of rotors. Trailing edge flaps are one technology proposed for changing the aerodynamic characteristics of a blade in order to limit the transformation of freestream wind fluctuations into load fluctuations within the blade structure. An instrumented wind turbine test rig and rotor were developed to enable a wide-range of experimental set-ups for such investigations. The capability of the developed system was demonstrated through a study of the effect of stationary trailing edge flaps on blade load and performance. The investigation focused on measuring the changes in flapwise bending moment and power production for various trailing edge flap parameters. The blade was designed to allow accurate instrumentation and customizable settings, with a design point within the range of wind velocities in a large open jet test facility. The wind facility was an open circuit wind tunnel with a maximum velocity of 11m/s in the test area. The load changes within the blade structure for different wind speeds were measured using strain gauges as a function of flap length, location and deflection angle. The blade was based on the S833 airfoil and is 1.7 meters long, had a constant 178mm chord and a 6o pitch. The aerodynamic parts were 3D printed using plastic PC-ABS material. The total loading on the blade showed higher reduction when the flap was placed further away from the hub and when the flap angle (pitching towards suction side) was higher. The relationship between the load reduction and deflection angle was roughly linear as expected from theory. The effect on moment was greater than power production with a reduction in moment up to 30% for the maximum deflection angle compared to 6.5% reduction in power for the same angle. Overall, the experimental setup proved to be effective in measuring small changes in flapwise bending moment within the wind turbine blade.

This research is situated in the field of Computational AeroAcoustics (CAA). The thesis focuses on the computation of the aerodynamic noise generated by turbulent flows around wing, fan, or propeller airfoils. The computation of the noise radiated from a device is the first step for designers to understand the acoustical characteristics and to determine the noise sources in order to modify the design toward having acoustically efficient products. As a case study, the broadband or trailing-edge noise emanating from a CD (Controlled-Diffusion) airfoil, belonging to a fan is studied. The hybrid methods of aeroacoustic are applied to simulate and predict the radiated noise. The necessary tools were researched and developed. The hybrid methods consist in two steps simulations, where the determination of the aerodynamic field is decoupled from the computation of the acoustic waves propagation to the far field, so the first part of this thesis is devoted to an aerodynamic study of the considered airfoil. In this part of the thesis, a complete aerodynamic study has been performed. Some aspects have been developed in the used in-house solver SFELES, including the implementation of a new SGS model, a new outlet boundary condition and a new transient format which is used to extract the noise sources to be exported to the acoustic solver, ACTRAN. The second part of this thesis is concerned with the aeroacoustic study where four methods have been applied, among them two are integral formulations and the two others are partial-differential equations. The first method applied is Amiet’s theory, implemented in Matlab, based on the wall-pressure spectrum extracted in a point near the trailing edge. The second method is Curle’s formulation. It is applied proposing two approaches; the first approach is the implementation of the volume and surface integrals in SFELES to be calculated simultaneously with the flow in order to avoid the storage of noise sources which requires a huge space. In the second approach, the fluctuating aerodynamic forces, already obtained during the aerodynamics simulation, are used to compute the noise considering just the surface sources. Finally, Lighthil and Möhring analogies have been applied via the acoustic solver ACTRAN using sources extracted via SFELES. Maps of the radiated noise are demonstrated for several frequencies. The refraction effects of the mean flow have been studied. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

An aerodynamic investigation was performed to assess the effectiveness of combined boundary layer suction and trailing edge blowing at reducing the blade profile losses and the wake momentum deficit of a cascade of tandem IGV's operating at realistic flow conditions. Two trailing edge blowing designs were tested: metal-angle blowing, which oriented the blowing jets very near to the blade exit angle, and deviation-angle blowing, which oriented the blowing jets at a significant deviation angle from the blade exit angle. Both blowing designs used the same boundary layer suction arrangement. A linear cascade of five IGV's was tested with a flap deflection angle of 40 degrees and an inlet Mach number of 0.3. The Reynolds number based on the overall IGV chord length for these experiments was greater than 500,000. The inlet and exit angles of the IGV at this flap setting were 0 degrees and 55 degrees, respectively. Tests performed with no flow control showed significant suction surface flow separation that generated large wakes with high losses and large momentum deficits. The application of boundary layer suction reduced the baseline pressure loss coefficient and wake momentum thickness by 22%. A suction mass flow of 0.4% of the passage flow was used to obtain these results. The addition of metal-angle blowing with the suction resulted in total reductions of 48% and 38% for the pressure loss coefficient and wake momentum thickness. A blowing mass flow of 3.1% of the passage flow was used in addition to 0.4% suction mass flow to obtain these results. The application of the deviation-angle blowing was detrimental to the aerodynamics of the IGV, as both the pressure loss coefficient and wake momentum thickness increased slightly over their suction-only values. This was attributed to a manufacturing defect which distorted the flow of the blowing jet. The results of the deviation-angle blowing experiments were not considered representative of the design intent and reinforced the importance of the hole design for creating a proper blowing jet. While low speed tests of this cascade showed results and trends very similar to those of previous research, the application of flow control proved to be less effective at higher speeds due to the generation of significantly larger wakes. / Master of Science