The purpose of this paper is to characterize and model waves that are observed within the potential core of subsonic jets and relate them to previously observed tones in the near-nozzle region. The waves are detected in data from a large-eddy simulation of a Mach 0.9 isothermal jet and modelled using parallel and weakly non-parallel linear modal analysis of the Euler equations linearized about the turbulent mean flow, as well as simplified models based on a cylindrical vortex sheet and the acoustic modes of a cylindrical soft duct. In addition to the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability waves, three types of waves with negative phase velocities are identified in the potential core: upstream- and downstream-propagating duct-like acoustic modes that experience the shear layer as a pressure-release surface and are therefore radially confined to the potential core, and upstream-propagating acoustic modes that represent a weak coupling between the jet core and the free stream. The slow streamwise contraction of the potential core imposes a frequency-dependent end condition on the waves that is modelled as the turning points of a weakly non-parallel approximation of the waves. These turning points provide a mechanism by which the upstream- and downstream-travelling waves can interact and exchange energy through reflection and transmission processes. Paired with a second end condition provided by the nozzle, this leads to the possibility of resonance in limited frequency bands that are bound by two saddle points in the complex wavenumber plane. The predicted frequencies closely match the observed tones detected outside of the jet. The vortex-sheet model is then used to systematically explore the Mach number and temperature ratio dependence of the phenomenon. For isothermal jets, the model suggests that resonance is likely to occur in a narrow range of Mach number,$0.82<M<1$.

To investigate the effects of the nozzle-exit conditions on jet flow and sound fields, large-eddy simulations of an isothermal Mach 0.9 jet issued from a convergent-straight nozzle are performed at a diameter-based Reynolds number of $1\times 10^{6}$. The simulations feature near-wall adaptive mesh refinement, synthetic turbulence and wall modelling inside the nozzle. This leads to fully turbulent nozzle-exit boundary layers and results in significant improvements for the flow field and sound predictions compared with those obtained from the typical approach based on laminar flow in the nozzle. The far-field pressure spectra for the turbulent jet match companion experimental measurements, which use a boundary-layer trip to ensure a turbulent nozzle-exit boundary layer to within 0.5 dB for all relevant angles and frequencies. By contrast, the initially laminar jet results in greater high-frequency noise. For both initially laminar and turbulent jets, decomposition of the radiated noise into azimuthal Fourier modes is performed, and the results show similar azimuthal characteristics for the two jets. The axisymmetric mode is the dominant source of sound at the peak radiation angles and frequencies. The first three azimuthal modes recover more than 97 % of the total acoustic energy at these angles and more than 65 % (i.e. error less than 2 dB) for all angles. For the main azimuthal modes, linear stability analysis of the near-nozzle mean-velocity profiles is conducted in both jets. The analysis suggests that the differences in radiated noise between the initially laminar and turbulent jets are related to the differences in growth rate of the Kelvin–Helmholtz mode in the near-nozzle region.

We study the velocity fields of unforced, high Reynolds number, subsonic jets, issuing from round nozzles with turbulent boundary layers. The objective of the study is to educe wavepackets in such flows and to explore their relationship with the radiated sound. The velocity field is measured using a hot-wire anemometer and a stereoscopic, time-resolved PIV system. The field can be decomposed into frequency and azimuthal Fourier modes. The low-angle sound radiation is measured synchronously with a microphone ring array. Consistent with previous observations, the azimuthal wavenumber spectra of the velocity and acoustic pressure fields are distinct. The velocity spectrum of the initial mixing layer exhibits a peak at azimuthal wavenumbers m ranging from 4 to 11, and the peak is found to scale with the local momentum thickness of the mixing layer. The acoustic pressure field is, on the other hand, predominantly axisymmetric, suggesting an increased relative acoustic efficiency of the axisymmetric mode of the velocity field, a characteristic that can be shown theoretically to be caused by the radial compactness of the sound source. This is confirmed by significant correlations, as high as 10 %, between the axisymmetric modes of the velocity and acoustic pressure fields, these values being significantly higher than those reported for two-point flow-acoustic correlations in subsonic jets. The axisymmetric and first helical modes of the velocity field are then compared with solutions of linear parabolized stability equations (PSE) to ascertain if these modes correspond to linear wavepackets. For all but the lowest frequencies close agreement is obtained for the spatial amplification, up to the end of the potential core. The radial shapes of the linear PSE solutions also agree with the experimental results over the same region. The results suggests that, despite the broadband character of the turbulence, the evolution of Strouhal numbers 0.3 St 0.9 and azimuthal modes 0 and 1 can be modelled as linear wavepackets, and these are associated with the sound radiated to low polar angles.

We present experimental results for the acoustic field of jets with Mach numbers between 0.35 and 0.6. An azimuthal ring array of six microphones, whose polar angle, θ , was progressively varied, allows the decomposition of the acoustic pressure into azimuthal Fourier modes. In agreement with past observations, the sound field for low polar angles (measured with respect to the jet axis) is found to be dominated by the axisymmetric mode, particularly at the peak Strouhal number. The axisymmetric mode of the acoustic field can be clearly associated with an axially non-compact source, in the form of a wavepacket: the sound pressure level for peak frequencies is found be superdirective for all Mach numbers considered, with exponential decay as a function of (1 − M c cos θ ) 2 , where M c is the Mach number based on the phase velocity U c of the convected wave. While the mode m = 1 spectrum scales with Strouhal number, suggesting that its energy content is associated with turbulence scales, the axisymmetric mode scales with Helmholtz number -the ratio between source length scale and acoustic wavelength. The axisymmetric radiation has a stronger velocity dependence than the higher-order azimuthal modes, again in agreement with predictions of wavepacket models. We estimate the axial extent of the source of the axisymmetric component of the sound field to be of the order of six to eight jet diameters. This estimate is obtained in two different ways, using, respectively, the directivity shape and the velocity exponent of the sound radiation. The analysis furthermore shows that compressibility plays a significant role in the wavepacket dynamics, even at this low Mach number. Velocity fluctuations on the jet centreline are reduced as the Mach number is increased, an effect that must be accounted for in order to obtain a correct estimation of the velocity dependence of sound radiation. Finally, the higher-order azimuthal modes of the sound field are considered, and a model for the low-angle sound radiation by helical wavepackets is developed. The measured sound for azimuthal modes 1 and 2 at low Strouhal numbers is seen to correspond closely to the predicted directivity shapes.