Acoustics | Andrew Kirby, Ph.D.

In addition to studying the fluid dynamics of various renewable and aerospace applications, we have developed a computational aeroacoustics capability to predict noise signatures at far-field observers. Our noise-prediction strategy is based on a high-order, adaptive overset mesh flow solver combined with a noise-propagation approach based on the direct integration of the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings (FW-H) equation.

Far-field Acoustics of Flow Over a Sphere

Flow at Reynolds number 1,000 over a sphere.

Instantaneous vorticity contours for the Reynolds numbers 1,000 (left) and 10,000 (right) flow over a sphere.

FW-H acoustic comparison at Reynolds number 1,000.

FW-H acoustic comparison at Reynolds number 10,000.

FW-H acoustic signature reconstruction for Reynolds numbers 1,000 (left) and 10,000 (right) flows over a sphere at Mach 0.3.

The use of high-order numerical methods helps profoundly in the integration of the FW-H equation enabling accurate noise prediction for various applications.