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This thesis studies the prediction and reduction of installed jet noise, combining both analytical and experimental techniques. In the prediction part, it starts with formulating a low-order but robust isolated jet noise prediction model, based on which a remarkably fast code with pre-informed data is developed. A semi-empirical low-order model is then developed to predict installed jet noise. The model consists of two parts, the first of which is based on the Lighthill's acoustic analogy theory. The second part embraces Amiet's approach to model the sound due to the scattering of jet instability waves. It is shown that the significant low-frequency noise enhancement observed in installed jet experiments is due to the scattering of near-field instability waves. The trailing edge scattering model can successfully predict noise spectra at all distinct angles. The quadrupole-induced high-frequency sound is either efficiently shielded at $90^\circ$ to the jet axis on the shielded side or enhanced by around $3$ dB at $90^\circ$ on the reflected side. But these effects gradually diminish as the observer angle decreases. The high-frequency spectra can be robustly predicted at large observer angles while deviation occurs at low observer angles due to jet refraction effects. An experimental study on installed jet noise is then conducted. The effects of plate positions and Mach numbers are studied. Excellent agreement between the experimental results and model predictions is achieved at low frequencies for all plate positions and Mach numbers tested. At high frequencies, the noise spectra at $90^\circ$ on the reflected side can also be correctly predicted. At lower observer angles, deviations occur due to jet refraction effects. In the noise reduction part, an experimental study is firstly carried out to study the effects of lobed nozzles on installed jet noise at constant flow rates. It is found that lobed nozzles do not noticeably change the installed jet noise spectra at low frequencies. However, they do result in a slight noise reduction at high frequencies. To understand why lobed nozzles hardly change low-frequency installed jet noise, an analytical stability analysis for lobed vortex sheets is performed. The results show that lobed jets change both the convection velocity and the temporal growth rate of instability waves. The changes become more pronounced as the number of lobes $N$ and the penetration ratio $\epsilon$ increase. A second set of experiments is carried out to explore the possibility of reducing installed jet noise by using two pylons. The results show that even in the most conservative case installed jet noise is reduced by around $2\sim3$ dB at low frequencies. It is concluded that using two pylons to reduce installed jet noise has significant practical potential.

A key remaining challenge in the design of hypersonic vehicles is the incomplete understanding of the process of boundary-layer transition. Turbulent heating rates are substantially higher than those for a laminar boundary layer, and large uncertainties in transition prediction therefore demand conservative, inefficient designs for thermal protection systems. It is only through close collaboration between theory, experiment, and computation that the state of the art can be advanced, but experiments relevant to flight require ground-test facilities with very low disturbance levels. To enable this work, a unique Mach 6 low-disturbance wind tunnel, previously of NASA Langley Research Center, is established within a new pressure-vacuum blow-down infrastructure at Texas A&M. A 40-second run time at constant conditions enables detailed measurements for comparison with computation. The freestream environment is extensively characterized, with a large region of low-disturbance flow found to be reliably present for unit Reynolds numbers Re < 11×10^6 m-1. Experiments are performed on a 5º half-angle flared cone model at Re = 10×10^6 m-1 and zero angle of attack. For the study of the second-mode instability, well-resolved boundary-layer profiles of mean and fluctuating mass flux are acquired at several axial locations using hot-wire probes with a bandwidth of 330 kHz. The second mode instability is observed to undergo significant growth between 250 and 310 kHz. Mode shapes of the disturbance agree well with those predicted from linear parabolized stability equation (LPSE) computations. A 17% (40 kHz) disagreement is observed in the frequency for most-amplified growth between experiment and LPSE. Possible sources of the disagreement are discussed, and the effect of small misalignments of the model is quantified experimentally. A focused schlieren deflectometer with high bandwidth (1 MHz) and high signal-to-noise ratio is employed to complement the hot-wire work. The second-mode fundamental at 250 kHz is observed, as well as additional harmonic content not discernible in the hot-wire measurements at two and three times the fundamental. A bispectral analysis shows that after sufficient amplification of the second mode, several nonlinear mechanisms become significant, including ones involving the third harmonic, which have not hitherto been reported in the literature.

Le filtre de Kalman est largement utilisé pour l'assimilation de données en océanographie opérationnelle, notamment dans le cadre de prévisions. Néanmoins, à l'heure où les applications de l'assimilation de données tendent à se diversifier, notamment avec les réanalyses, la formulation tridimensionnelle (3D) du filtre n'utilise pas de façon optimale les observations. L'extension de ces méthodes 3D (filtre) à une formulation 4D (appelés lisseurs), permet de mieux tirer partie des observations en les assimilant de façon rétrograde. Nous étudions dans cette thèse la mise en place et les effets d'un lisseur de rang réduit sur les réanalyses, dans le cadre d'une configuration réaliste de la circulation océanique en Atlantique tropical. Ce travail expose dans un premier temps les aspects sensibles mais nécessaires de l'implémentation du lisseur, avec notamment la paramétrisation des statistiques d'erreur et leur évolution temporelle. Les apports du lissage sur les réanalyses sont ensuite étudiés, en comparant la qualité de la solution lissée par rapport à la solution filtrée. Ces résultats permettent d'exposer les bienfaits d'une assimilation 4D. On observe notamment une diminution de l'erreur globale de environ 15% sur les variables assimilées, ainsi qu'une bonne capacité du lisseur à fournir une solution cohérente avec la dynamique de référence. Ce point est illustré par le rephasage de certaines structures sensibles comme les anneaux du Brésil. Enfin, un cas moins en accord avec la théorie mais plus facile à mettre en pratique (et plus souvent utilisé dans les centres opérationnels), l'interpolation optimale, a permis d'étudier les apports du lissage et ses limites dans une telle configuration. L'évolution temporelle des erreurs pour le lissage s'est ainsi révélée nécessaire pour garder un maximum de cohérence avec les erreurs réelles. Néanmoins, le lisseur montre tout de même des résultats encourageant avec l'interpolation optimale en abaissant le niveau global d'erreur (de 10 à 15%). / The Kalman filter is widely used in data assimilation for operational oceanography, in particular for forecasting problems. Yet, now that data assimilation applications tend to diversify, with reanalysis problems for instance, the three-dimensional (3D) formulation of the filter doesn't allow an optimal use of the observations. The four-dimensional extention of the 3D methods, called smoothers, allows a better use of the observations, assimilating them on a retrospective way. We study in this work the implementation and the effects of a reduced-rank smoother on reanalysis, with a realistic tropical Atlantic ocean circulation model. First we expose some sensitive steps required for the smoother implementation, most notably the covariances evolution parametrisation of the filter. The smoother's benefits for reanalysis are then exposed, compare to a 3D reanalysis. It shows that the global error can be reduced by 15% on assimilated variables (like temperature). The smoother also leads to an analyzed solution dynamically closer to the reference (compare to the filter), as we can observe with phasing of Brazil rings for instance. Finally, we studied a case of smoothing based on optimal interpolation (instead of the filter). This case is inconsistent with the theory but often used in operational centers. Results shows that the smoother can improve the reanalysis solution in an OI case (reducing the global error from 10 to 15%), but still the dynamical evolution of error covariances (filter) are needed to get a correction according with the real error structures.

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