Unsteady aerodynamic noise prediction of contra-rotating open rotor using meshless method

The Contra-Rotating Open Rotor(CROR)design confronts significant noise challenges despite being one of the possible options for future green aeroengines.To efficiently estimate the noise emitted from a CROR,a three-dimensional unsteady prediction model based on the meshless method is presented.The unsteady wake flow and the aerodynamic load fluctuations on the blade are solved through the viscous vortex particle method,the blade element momentum theory and vortex lattice method.Then,the acoustic field is obtained through the Farassat’s formulation 1A.Validation of this method is conducted on a CROR,and a mesh-based method,e.g.,Nonlinear Harmonic(NLH)method,is also employed for comparison.It is found that the presented method is three times faster than NLH method while maintaining a comparable precision.A thorough parametric analysis is also carried out to illustrate the effects of rotational speed,rotor-rotor spacing and rear rotor diameter on the noise level.The rotor speed is found to be the most influencing factor,and by optimizing the speed difference between the front and rear rotors,a notable noise reduction can be expected.The current findings not only contribute to a deeper comprehension of the CROR’s aeroacoustic properties but also offer an effective tool for engineering applications.

Interaction tonal noise generated by contra-rotating open rotors

Fast and accurate prediction of sound radiation of Contra-Rotating Open Rotors(CRORs)is an essential element of design methods of low-noise open rotor propulsion systems.In the present work,a previous frequency-domain model is extended to predict CROR noise.It builds explicitly the relationship between harmonic loadings and corresponding tonal noise,by which the influential parameters to noise generation can be clearly understood.The real distribu-tions of steady and unsteady blade loadings are calculated by the Nonlinear Harmonic(NLH)method.In the present hybrid approach,both the CFD and acoustic modules are solved in the fre-quency domain.To assess the accuracy of the developed method,the loading noise of a CROR is calculated and compared against results by using the time-domain FW-H module of NUMECA.The predicted sound directivities by the two methods are in good agreements.The present acoustic model in the frequency domain is proven to be accurate and have high efficiency in far-field noise prediction and data processing.Furthermore,the characteristics of the CROR interaction tonal noise are analyzed and discussed.