Self-excitation of acoustic resonance in axisymmetric cavities can lead to a complex flow–acoustic coupling, which may result in severe noise generation. In this work, a large eddy simulation is performed to model the different flow–sound coupling mechanisms during the self-excitation of various excitable acoustic modes in an axisymmetric shallow cavity configuration with an aspect ratio of L/d = 1 over the lock-in region. The compressible Navier–Stokes equations are solved at a resolution sufficient to capture the flow and the acoustic dynamics. The excitation of three acoustic modes of different aerodynamic characteristics over the range of the tested flow velocities was observed. These modes are a stationary diametral mode, a spinning diametral mode, and a longitudinal mode. The initiation and separation of vortices over the cavity mouth accompanying the self-excitation of each mode involve different dynamics. If two antisymmetric series of vortical crescents separate successively at the leading edge, a stationary acoustic mode is excited. The formation of a continuously rotating helical vortex, connecting the leading edge and the trailing edge, leads to the excitation of the diametral spinning mode. The excitation of the longitudinal mode is associated with symmetric rings of vortices. Complex patterns of flow velocities and Reynolds stresses in the circumferential direction are observed for the diametral modes but not for the longitudinal mode. In all cases, the excitation of acoustic resonance requires a synchronization of the vortex separation and impingement processes, which is necessary for efficient feedback to sustain the flow–sound coupling mechanism.
In this paper, the flow-excited acoustic resonance of an in-line row of cylinders ranging from one to five is investigated. Cylinders of three different diameters of 12.7 mm, 19.1 mm, and 25.4 mm are tested in cross flow with flow speeds up to 160 m/s. Two different tube lengths of 76.2 mm and 127 mm are used to investigate the effect of the cylinder’s aspect ratio at a given diameter on the excitation mechanism of acoustic resonance. A fixed spacing ratio of L/D = 2 is used for all cases. For more than one cylinder of the larger diameter, the self-excitation of resonance occurs at two discrete flow velocity regions that are generally wider than the case of a single cylinder. A larger diameter does not only trigger the excitation of the pre-coincidence resonance region, but also increases the normalized acoustic pressure of this pre-coincidence resonance. On the contrary, the cylinder’s aspect ratio does not have a similar effect on the pre-coincidence and coincidence resonance regions. Therefore, it is important that the effect of diameter should be included in formulas predicting the occurrence of resonance for in-line tube bundles. In addition, the Strouhal number related to the coincidence resonance decreases with the increase in the number of cylinders. The coincidence resonance is related to the vortex shedding in the wake of the last cylinder, while the pre-coincidence resonance is related to the shear layer in the gap between successive cylinders.
Excitation of acoustic resonance by flow over tube bundles in heat exchangers can cause hazardous levels of acoustic pressure that may pose operational and environmental risks. The previous studies have indicated that inline arrangements of cylinders excite acoustic resonance of a nature different from that of a single cylinder. In this work, the excitation of acoustic resonance by cross-flow around inline arrangements of cylinders is experimentally investigated to identify the role of critical parameters on resonance characteristics. Results show that flow around inline tube bundles can excite acoustic resonance due to periodic flow oscillations over the cavity formed between successive cylinders rather than periodic wake phenomena. Based on precoincidence resonance characteristics, a criterion is introduced to predict the occurrence of acoustic resonance in inline arrangements of cylinders. The proposed parametric criterion does not only identify the potential for resonance excitation for inline arrangements of cylinders experimentally investigated in this work but it also provides a method to separate resonant from nonresonant cases for inline tube bundle data from the literature.
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