A Comparative Study of Scarfed Nozzle for Jet-Installation Noise Reduction

Abstract

The experimental investigation of the effects of scarfed nozzles on jet-installation noise was conducted using unheated subsonic jets in an anechoic jet noise facility. Four different types of scarfed nozzles with increasing nozzle lip angles were examined to study the installation effects at various plate distances away from the jet. Mach numbers ranging from 0.3 to 0.8 were investigated in the experiments. The use of scarfed nozzles is known to result in the deflection of flow away from the centre axis, inducing asymmetry in the jet shears, leading to azimuthal variation in the spectra, and ultimately, noise reduction. This study aims to explore the possibility of reducing jet-installation noise using scarfed nozzles at subsonic flow conditions. The characteristics of jet hydrodynamic pressure fluctuations were investigated in the axial direction using far-field measurements. The near-field flow features were studied using surface pressure transducers installed on the flat plate for the installed configurations. Detailed spectral, coherence, and correlation analyses were carried out to determine the noise reduction mechanisms associated with scarfed nozzles in the proximity of a flat plate. The results of the study showed that the use of scarfed nozzles significantly reduced the jet-installation noise. The reduction was attributed to the generation of an asymmetric flow field induced by the nozzle geometry. The reduction in noise levels was also observed to increase with increasing nozzle lip angle. The detailed analyses revealed that the noise reduction mechanism was associated with a decrease in the acoustic power generated by the jet. Overall, the results suggest that scarfed nozzles can be an effective means of reducing jet-installation noise in subsonic flow conditions.