Suppression of the Hydrodynamic Noise Induced by the Horseshoe Vortex through Mechanical Vortex Generators

Abstract

The hydrodynamic noise from the horseshoe vortex can greatly destroy the acoustic stealth of underwater vehicles at low frequency. We investigated the flow-induced noise suppression mechanism by mechanical vortex generators (VGs) on a SUBOFF model. Based on the numerical simulation, we calculated the flow field and the sound field of the three shapes of mechanical VGs: triangular, semi-circular, and trapezoidal. The triangular VGs with an angle of 30° to the flow direction achieved a better noise reduction. The optimum noise suppression is 8.93 dB, when the distance from the triangular VGs to the sail hull’s leading edge is 0.1c, where c is the chord length. The noise reduction mechanism is such that the mechanical VGs can destroy the formation of the horseshoe vortex at the origin and produce counter-rotation vortices to weaken its intensity. We created two steel models according to the simulation, and the experimental measurement was carried out in a gravity water tunnel. The measured results showed that the formation of the horseshoe vortex could be effectively inhibited by the triangular VGs. The results in our study can provide a new method for hydrodynamic noise suppression by flow control.