On the scattering of aerodynamic noise

Abstract

According to the Lighthill acoustic analogy, the sound induced by a region of turbulence is the same as that due to an equivalent distribution of quadrupole sources within the fluid. It is known that the presence of scattering bodies situated near such multipoles can convert some of their intense near field energy into the form of sound waves whose amplitude is far greater than that of the incident field. Calculations are here presented to determine the extent of this conversion, for hard and soft bodies of various shapes, making use of the reciprocal theorem to recast the problem into one of finding the field, near the obstacle, induced by an incident plane wave. If the obstacle is small compared with a wavelength, then its presence is equivalent to an additional dipole (or source) whose greater efficiency as a sound radiator implies that the familiar intensity law I ∝ U8, for far field intensity I against typical turbulence velocity U for an unbounded flow, is replaced by I ∝ U6 (or I ∝ U4) for a hard (or soft) body. For the situation where the scatterer is large compared with wavelength, the prototype problem of a wedge of exterior angle (p/q)π is shown to yield an intensity law I ∝ U4+2q/p for both hard and soft surfaces. This result is shown to hold for the more general ‘wedge-like’ surfaces, whose dimensions are large scale and whose edges may be smoothed out on a small scale, compared with wavelength. The method used involves the matching of an incompressible flow, on the fine scales typical of the edge geometry, to an outer flow determined by the large scale features of the surface. Favourable comparisons are made with previous results pertaining to the two-dimensional semi-infinite duct and to the half-plate of finite thickness.