Multispecies Flow Indirect-Noise Modeling Re-Examined with a Helicopter-Engine Application

Abstract

Composition noise has recently received increasing attention for its potential to contribute significantly to the indirect noise mechanism. In this study, the importance and definition of composition noise are revisited by proposing a new proper decomposition between entropy and mixture compositional fluctuations. When assuming quasi-one-dimensional, multispecies, isentropic, and nonreactive flow in nozzles, the resulting system of equations shows a new and remarkable one-way coupling between composition waves and both acoustic and entropy waves. Relying on the Magnus-expansion methodology, an exact solution of that system is investigated. The proposed theory is validated by comparing the model predictions with direct numerical simulations of nozzle flows in which compositional fluctuations are pulsed. It is shown that composition transfer functions from the unsteady simulations are in agreement with the analytical model of this paper. Finally, a hybrid approach is investigated consisting of extracting waves from a large-eddy simulation of a real helicopter engine and propagating those through different nozzle geometries. Composition noise is found to be negligible compared to direct or indirect entropy noise since it is at least 20 dB lower than other noise mechanisms for all tested cases.