This is a personal statement on the present state of understanding of coherent structures, in particular their spatial details and dynamical significance. The characteristic measures of coherent structures are discussed, emphasizing coherent vorticity as the crucial property. We present here a general scheme for educing structures in any transitional or fully turbulent flow. From smoothed vorticity maps in convenient flow planes, this scheme recognizes patterns of the same mode and parameter size, and then phase-aligns and ensemble-averages them to obtain coherent structure measures. The departure of individual realizations from the ensemble average denotes incoherent turbulence. This robust scheme has been used to educe structures from velocity data using a rake of hot wires as well as direct numerical simulations and can educe structures using newer measurement techniques such as digital image processing. Our recent studies of coherent structures in several free shear flows are briefly reviewed. Detailed data in circular and elliptic jets, mixing layers, and a plane wake reveal that incoherent turbulence is produced at the ‘saddles’ and then advected to the ‘centres’ of the structures. The mechanism of production of turbulence in shear layers is the stretching of longitudinal vortices or ‘ribs’ which connect the predominantly spanwise ‘rolls’; the ribs induce spanwise contortions of rolls and cause mixing and dissipation, mostly at points where they connect with rolls. We also briefly discuss the role of coherent structures in aerodynamic noise generation and argue that the structure breakdown process, rather than vortex pairing, is the dominant mechanism of noise generation. The ‘cut-and-connect’ interaction of coherent structures is proposed as a specific mechanism of aerodynamic noise generation, and a simple analytical model of it shows that it can provide acceptable predictions of jet noise. The coherent-structures approach to turbulence, apart from explaining flow physics, has also enabled turbulence management via control of structure evolution and interactions. We also discuss some new ideas under investigation: in particular, helicity as a characteristic property of coherent structures.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022112086001192

Coherent structures and turbulence.

https://acoustique.ec-lyon.fr/publi/bogey_jcp04.pdf

A family of low dispersive and low dissipative explicit schemes for flow and noise computations

The mechanisms of sound generation in a Mach 0.9, Reynolds number 3600 turbulent jet are investigated by direct numerical simulation. Details of the numerical method are briefly outlined and results are validated against an experiment at the same flow conditions (Stromberg, McLaughlin & Troutt 1980). Lighthill's theory is used to define a nominal acoustic source in the jet, and a numerical solution of Lighthill's equation is compared to the simulation to verify the computational procedures. The acoustic source is Fourier transformed in the axial coordinate and time and then filtered in order to identify and separate components capable of radiating to the far field. This procedure indicates that the peak radiating component of the source is coincident with neither the peak of the full unfiltered source nor that of the turbulent kinetic energy. The phase velocities of significant components range from approximately 5% to 50% of the ambient sound speed which calls into question the commonly made assumption that the noise sources convect at a single velocity. Space–time correlations demonstrate that the sources are not acoustically compact in the streamwise direction and that the portion of the source that radiates at angles greater than 45° is stationary. Filtering non-radiating wavenumber components of the source at single frequencies reveals that a simple modulated wave forms for the source, as might be predicted by linear stability analysis. At small angles from the jet axis the noise from these modes is highly directional, better described by an exponential than a standard Doppler factor.

Noise sources in a low-Reynolds-number turbulent jet at Mach 0.9

https://www.colonius.caltech.edu/pdfs/ColoniusLele2004.pdf

Computational aeroacoustics: progress on nonlinear problems of sound generation

Turbulent jet noise is a controversial fluid mechanical puzzle that has amused and bewildered researchers for more than half a century. Whereas numerical simulations are now capable of simultaneously predicting turbulence and its radiated sound, the theoretical framework that would guide noise-control efforts is incomplete. Wave packets are intermittent, advecting disturbances that are correlated over distances far exceeding the integral scales of turbulence. Their signatures are readily distinguished in the vortical, turbulent region; the irrotational, evanescent near field; and the propagating far field. We review evidence of the existence, energetics, dynamics, and acoustic efficiency of wave packets. We highlight how extensive data available from simulations and modern measurement techniques can be used to distill acoustically relevant turbulent motions. The evidence supports theories that seek to represent wave packets as instability waves, or more general modal solutions of the governing equations, and confirms the acoustic importance of these structures in the aft-angle radiation of high subsonic and supersonic jets. The resulting unified view of wave packets provides insights that can help guide control strategies.

/pdf/wave-packets-and-turbulent-jet-noise-1j77wgcl8y.pdf

Wave Packets and Turbulent Jet Noise

This study investigates the noise radiated by a subsonic circular jet with a Mach number of 0.9 and a Reynolds number of 65000 computed by a compressible Large Eddy Simulation (LES). First, it demonstrates the feasibility of using LES to predict accurately both the flow field and the sound radiation on a domain including the acoustic field. Mean flow parameters, turbulence intensities, velocity spectra and integral length scales are in very good agreement with experimental data. The noise generated by the jet, provided directly by the simulation, is also consistent with measurements in terms of sound pressure spectra, levels and directivity. The apparent location of the sound sources is at the end of the potential core in accordance with some experimental observations at similar Reynolds numbers and Mach numbers. Second, the noise generation mechanisms are discussed in an attempt to connect the flow field with the acoustic field. This study shows that for the simulated moderate Reynolds number jet, the predominant sound radiation in the downstream direction is associated with the breakdown of the shear layers in the central jet zone.

/pdf/noise-investigation-of-a-high-subsonic-moderate-reynolds-4dmnz3cmqh.pdf

Noise Investigation of a High Subsonic, Moderate Reynolds Number Jet Using a Compressible Large Eddy Simulation

An acoustic analogy using linearized Euler’ s equations (LEE) forced with aerodynamic source terms is investigated to computetheacousticfare eld. Thishybridmethod isappliedto threemodelproblemssimulatedby solving Navier‐Stokes equations. In this way, its validity is estimated by comparing the predicted acoustic e eld with the reference solution given directly by the Navier ‐Stokes equations. The noise radiated by two corotating vortices is studied: e rst, in a medium at rest and, second, in a mean sheared e ow with no convection velocity. Then the sound e eld generated by vortex pairings in a subsonic mixing layer is investigated. In this case, a simplie ed formulation of LEE is proposed to prevent the exponential growth of instability waves. The acoustic e elds obtained by solving LEE are in good agreement with the reference solution. This study shows that the source terms introduced into the LEE are appropriate for free sheared e ows and that acoustic ‐mean e ow interactions are properly taken into account in the wave operator. Nomenclature b = half-width of the monopolar source c = sound velocity E;F;H = vectors in linearized Euler’ s equations (LEE) f = frequency f0 = fundamental frequency of the mixing layer k = complex wave number, kr Ciki M = Mach number p = pressure Re = Reynolds number rc = vortex core radius r0 = initial half distance between the two vortices S = sound source vector in LEE Si = source terms in the momentum equations T = period Tij = Lighthill’ s tensor t = time U = unknown vector in LEE U1 = slow stream velocity of the mixing layer U2 = rapid stream velocity of the mixing layer u = velocity vector, .u1;u2/ Vµ = initial tangential velocity of vortices

/pdf/computation-of-flow-noise-using-source-terms-in-linearized-54jyws0tyw.pdf

Computation of Flow Noise Using Source Terms in Linearized Euler's Equations

The goal of this work is to study some numerical solutions of acoustic propagation problems using linearized Eider's equations. The two-dimensional Euler's equations are linearized around a stationary mean flow. The solution is obtained by using a dispersion-relation-preserving scheme in space, combined with a fourth-order Runge-Kutta algorithm in time. This numerical integration leads to very good results in terms of accuracy, stability and low storage. The radiation of a source hi a subsonic and supersonic uniform mean flow is investigated. The numerical estimates are shown to be in excellent agreement with the analytical solutions. Next, a typical problem in jet noise is considered, the propagation of acoustic waves in a sheared mean flow, and the numerical solution compares favorably with ray tracing. The final goal of this work is to improve and to validate the Stochastic Noise Generation and Radiation (SNGR) model. In this model, the turbulent velocity field is modeled by a sum of random Fourier modes through a source term in the linearized Euler's equations. The implementation of acoustic sources in the linearized Euler's equations is thus an important point. This is discussed with emphasis on the ability of the method to describe correctly the multipolar structure of aeroacoustic sources. Finally, a nonlinear formulation of Euler's equations is solved hi order to limit the growth of instability waves excited by the acoustic source terms.

/pdf/numerical-solution-of-acoustic-propagation-problems-using-38qw9lm8va.pdf

Numerical Solution of Acoustic Propagation Problems Using Linearized Euler Equations

https://acoustique.ec-lyon.fr/publi/gloerfelt_jsv03.pdf

Direct computation of the noise radiated by a subsonic cavity flow and application of integral methods

https://acoustique.ec-lyon.fr/publi/juve_jsv80.pdf

Daniel Juvé

Papers

Noise Investigation of a High Subsonic, Moderate Reynolds Number Jet Using a Compressible Large Eddy Simulation

Computation of Flow Noise Using Source Terms in Linearized Euler's Equations

Numerical Solution of Acoustic Propagation Problems Using Linearized Euler Equations

Direct computation of the noise radiated by a subsonic cavity flow and application of integral methods

Intermittency of the noise emission in subsonic cold jets