Aeroacoustic Analysis

ABSTRACT:The reduction of aerodynamic/hydrodynamic noise caused by violent turbulence is of strategic importance to many military systems. These include modern fighter jets, unmanned weapons with sensitive electronics, and surface and underwater vessels. For all these systems, aerodynamic or hydrodynamic noise can produce unacceptable levels of operational loads or acoustic vibrations, or be detrimental to their stealth. The reduction of aerodynamic noise is also of major importance to civilian transport systems. In the commercial airplane industry, reducing airframe noise improves the habitability of the passenger cabin. In the automobile and tire industries, deadening structure-borne noise arising from the rolling of tires increases the driving comfort of vehicles. In all automotive industries, reducing aerodynamic noise offers a commercial advantage and contributes to addressing environmental concerns and meeting noise certification regulations. For these reasons, there is a pressing need today for a multidisciplinary computational tool capable of predicting accurately, reliably, and yet rapidly aeroacoustic loads and vibrations. To this effect, this Phase II SBIR focuses on integrating within the AERO Suite of Codes the novel, multiscale, multidisciplinary aeroacoustic computational technology with a reduced-order modeling capability conceived during Phase I of this effort, and maturing its application to aircraft configurations with open bay doors.BENEFIT:The anticipated benefits of this effort include a state-of-the-art, comprehensive, and most importantly practical computational technology for the highly accurate aeroacoustic-structural analysis of full aircraft configurations involving open bay doors and external stores in the subsonic, transonic, and supersonic regimes. This computational technology will be seamlessly integrated in the AERO Suite of Codes deployed at the Edwards Air Force Base. Consequently, it will boost the potential of the AERO simulation platform for commercialization in the aircraft and automobile industries, among others, where noise reduction offers a commercial advantage, particularly in the luxury segments of the markets, and where addressing environmental concerns and noise certification regulations is becoming critical.