The near-field pressure radiated by planar high-speed free-shear-flow turbulence

Abstract

Jets with Mach numbers $M\gtrsim 1.5$ are well known to emit an intense, fricative, so-called crackle sound, having steep compressions interspersed with weaker expansions that together yield a positive pressure skewness $S_{k}>0$. Its shock-like features are obvious hallmarks of nonlinearity, although a full explanation of the skewness is lacking, and wave steepening alone is understood to be insufficient to describe its genesis. Direct numerical simulations of high-speed free-shear flows for Mach numbers $M=0.9$, $1.5$, $2.5$ and $3.5$ in the Reynolds number range $60\leqslant Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{m}}\leqslant 4200$ are used to examine the mechanisms leading to such pressure signals, especially the pressure skewness. For $M=2.5$ and $3.5$, the pressure immediately adjacent the turbulence already has the large $S_{k}\gtrsim 0.4$ associated with jet crackle. It also has a surprisingly complex three-dimensional structure, with locally high pressures at compression-wave intersections. This structure is transient, and it simplifies as radiating waves subsequently merge through nonlinear mechanisms to form the relatively distinct and approximately two-dimensional Mach-like waves deduced from laboratory visualizations. A transport equation for $S_{k}$ is analysed to quantify factors affecting its development. The viscous dissipation that decreases $S_{k}$ is balanced by a particular nonlinear flux, which is (of course) absent in linear acoustic propagation and confirmed to be independent of the simulated Reynolds numbers. Together these effects maintain an approximately constant $S_{k}$ in the near acoustic field.