The Acoustics and Unsteady Wall Pressure of a Circulation Control Airfoil

A Circulation Control (CC) airfoil uses a wall jet exiting onto a rounded trailing edge to generate lift via the Coanda effect. The aerodynamics of the CC airfoil have been studied extensively. The acoustics of the airfoil are, however, much less understood. The primary goal of the present work was to study the radiated sound and unsteady surface pressures of a CC airfoil. The focus of this work can be divided up into three main categories: characterizing the unsteady surface pressures, characterizing the radiated sound, and understanding the acoustics from surface pressures. The present work is the first to present the unsteady surface pressures from the trailing edge cylinder of a circulation control airfoil. The auto-spectral density of the unsteady surface pressures at various locations around the trailing edge are presented over a wide range of the jets momentum coefficient. Coherence of pressure and length scales were computed and presented. Single microphone measurements were made at a range of angles for a fixed observer distance in the far field. Spectra are presented for select angles to show the directivity of the airfoil's radiated sound. Predictions of the acoustics were made from unsteady surface pressures via Howe's curvature noise model and a modified Curle's analogy. A summary of the current understanding of the acoustics from a CC airfoil is given along with suggestions for future work.