Research

Aerodynamics and acoustics prediction and control

Principal investigator: Eldad AVITAL
Co-investigator(s): , Fariborz MOTALLEBI, , M. Gaster, T. Miloh and V. Don

Figure 1: Sound interaction with a flexible submerged cylindrical shell (Avital & Miloh, Tran Phil Roy Soc A, 2011)There is a growing interest in applying active flow and noise control in various engineering applications.

1. Jet noise continues to be a topic affecting aviation. In this context we have recently made two types of progress. The first is in collaboration with Cranfield university where we published a procedure to optimize fuel consumption and noise emission (Doulgeris, Proc IMechE Part G: J Aerospace Eng, 2013). This work was awarded the IMechE Kenneth Harris James prize for 2013. We have also investigated high speed jet noise to derive a new method of aeroacoustic simulation and to show the noise's non-linear character as it affects its perception (Avital et al, J. Comp. Acous, 2013). This research is continued in collaboration with BUAA China and the support of Royal Society and NSFC.

RANS results of wind turbine aerofoil improvement using the QMUL-SLU CIRCLE method, (Ahmed et al, Procedia Engineering, 2013)

2. Blade aerodynamics is of significant importance for aviation and energy production.

  • a. We are continuing to develop our unique CIRCLE design method for blades, whether for low speed as in wind turbines (Ahmed et al., Procedia Eng, 2013) or high speed as in high pressure compressors and turbines (Korakianitis et al., Applied Energy, 2012).
  • b. We have investigated flow leakage around turbine blades, assessing effect of in-service burn out and geometry changes to reduce flow leakage in high pressure turbines (Saleh et al, Waset Acad Science, Eng Tech., 2013)
  • c. We have developed highly skilled expertise in designing micro-vortex generators to reduce drag (with the support of UK dstl) whether for underwater vehicles and blade aerodynamics as it is currently pursued.

3. Morphing elastic bodies’ surface by direct deformation has been suggested as a potential way for cloaking floating and submerged bodies (Avital & Miloh, Phill Trans Roy Soc, 2011 and Avital et al, Adv. Vib. Acous. 2012).

4. We have looked at the control of cavity flows, a theme occurring in many engineering problems. We proved computationally and by using instability theory that a simple flow control mechanism of blowing and suction can reduce significantly open cavity noise. This type of noise is found in various engineering situations ranging from an aircraft lending gear to under water applications (Suponitsky et al., Phys. Fluids, 2005). Supersonic cavity flow and noise reduction is also investigated using our in-house ILES code an experiments (Don et al., Waset Acad Science, Eng Tech., 2013).