The acoustic impedance of a laminar viscous jet through a thin circular aperture

Abstract

The unsteady axisymmetric flow through a circular aperture in a thin plate subjected to harmonic forcing (for instance under the effect of an incident acoustic wave) is a classical problem first considered by Howe (Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A, vol. 366, 1979, pp. 205–223), using an inviscid model. The purpose of this work is to reconsider this problem through a numerical resolution of the incompressible linearized Navier–Stokes equations (LNSE) in the laminar regime, corresponding to $Re=[500,5000]$. We first compute a steady base flow which allows us to describe the vena contracta phenomenon in agreement with experiments. We then solve a linear problem allowing us to characterize both the spatial amplification of the perturbations and the impedance (or equivalently the Rayleigh conductivity), which is a key quantity to investigate the response of the jet to acoustic forcing. Since the linear perturbation is characterized by a strong spatial amplification, the numerical resolution requires the use of a complex mapping of the axial coordinate in order to enlarge the range of Reynolds number investigated. The results show that the impedances computed with $Re\gtrsim 1500$ collapse onto a single curve, indicating that a large Reynolds number asymptotic regime is effectively reached. However, expressing the results in terms of conductivity leads to substantial deviation with respect to Howe’s model. Finally, we investigate the case of finite-amplitude perturbations through direct numerical simulations (DNS). We show that the impedance predicted by the linear approach remains valid for amplitudes up to order $10^{-1}$, despite the fact that the spatial evolution of the perturbations in the jet is strongly nonlinear.