POD and Fourier analyses of a fluid-structure-acoustic interaction problem related to interior car noise

Abstract

In order to approach a flow configuration revealing the aerodynamic noise contribution in the interior of road vehicles due to the A-pillar vortex, a numerical simulation of a Forward Facing Step (FFS) coupled with a vibrating structure is performed. This numerical study is based on a weak coupling of three solvers to compute (i) the flow field in interaction with the FFS, (ii) the vibration of the structure and (iii) the acoustic radiation in the open cavity. The purpose of this work is then to evaluate the ability of two different post-processing methods: Proper Orthogonal Decomposition and Fourier Decomposition to identify the origin of the noise radiated into a cavity surrounded by an unsteady flow. Fourier and POD decompositions are then successively performed to extract the part of the aeroacoustic wall pressure field impacting the upper part of an upward step mainly related to the radiated acoustic pressure in the cavity. It is observed that the acoustic part, extracted from the wavenumber frequency decomposition (Fourier analysis) of the wall pressure field generates a non-negligible part of the interior cavity noise. However, this contribution is of several orders smaller than the one related to the aerodynamic part of the pressure field. Moreover, it is shown that the most energetic part of the pressure field (POD analysis) is due to the shear flapping motion and mainly contributes to the low-frequency noise in the cavity. Such post-processing results are of particular interest for future analyzes related to the noise radiated inside a car.