Aeroacoustic Coupling in Rectangular Deep Cavities: Passive Control and Flow Dynamics

Abstract

Deep cavity configurations are common in various industrial applications, including automotive windows, sunroofs, and many other applications in aerospace engineering. Flows over such a geometry can result in aeroacoustic coupling between the cavity shear layer oscillations and the surrounding acoustic modes. This phenomenon can result in a resonance that can lead to significant noise and may cause damage to mechanical structures. Flow control methods are usually used to reduce or eliminate the aeroacoustic resonance. An experimental set up was developed to study the effectiveness of both a cylinder and a profiled cylinder positioned upstream from the cavity in reducing the flow resonance. The cavity flow and the acoustic signals were obtained using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and unsteady pressure sensors, respectively. A decrease of up to 36 dB was obtained in the sound pressure levels (SPL) using the passive control methods. The profiled cylinder showed a similar efficacy in reducing the resonance despite the absence of a high-frequency forcing. Time-space cross-correlation maps along the cavity shear layer showed the suppression of the feedback mechanism for both control methods. A snapshot proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) showed interesting differences between the cylinder and profiled cylinder control methods in terms of kinetic energy content and the vortex dynamics behavior. Furthermore, the interaction of the wake of the control device with the cavity shear layer and its impact on the aeroacoustic coupling was investigated using the POD analysis.