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The acoustic impedance of a circular, confined, side branch orifice subjected to grazing flow is studied. Two geometries are tested. In both geometries, the side branch dimension is of the same order as that of the main duct. The system is viewed as an acoustic three-port, whose passive properties are described by a system matrix. The impedance is studied with the acoustic field incident at different ports, which is shown to influence the results significantly. When excited from the leading edge or from the side branch, an interaction of the hydrodynamic and acoustic fields is triggered, while excitation from the trailing edge does not trigger such an interaction. For both the resistance and the reactance (here expressed as an end correction) the results vary in the three possible excitation cases. In the quasi-stationary limit the resistance is given by a loss coefficient times the Mach number, and the end correction collapses to a single value.

To tune the acoustics of intake systems resonators are often used. A problem with this solution is that the performance of these resonators can be affected a lot by flow. First, for low frequencies (Strouhal-numbers) the acoustic induced vorticity across a resonator inlet opening will create damping, which can reduce the efficiency. Secondly, the vorticity across the opening can also change the end-correction (added mass) for the resonator, which can modify the resonance frequency. However, the largest problem that can occur is whistling. This happens since the vortex-sound interaction across a resonator opening for certain Strouhal-numbers will amplify incoming sound waves. A whistling can then be created if this amplified sound forms a feedback loop, e.g., via reflections from system boundaries or the resonator. To analyse this kind of problem it is necessary to have a model that allows for both sound and vorticity and their interaction.

This work explores how fluid driven whistles in complex automotive intake and exhaust systems can be predicted using computationally affordable tools. Whistles associated with unsteady shear layers (created over for example side branches or perforates in resonators) are studied using vortex sound theory; vorticity in the shear layer interacts with the acoustic field while being convected across the orifice. If the travel time of a hydrodynamic disturbance over the orifice reasonably matches a multiple of the acoustic period of an acoustic feedback system, energy is transferred from the flow field to the acoustic field resulting in a whistle. The actual amplitude of the whistle is set by non-linear saturation phenomena and cannot be predicted here, but the frequency and relative strength can be found. For this not only the mean flow and acoustic fields needs to be characterized separately, but also the interaction of the two.

Flow reversal chambers are common design elements in mufflers. Here an idealized flow reversal chamber with large cross-section but small depth has been studied. The inlet and outlet ducts as well as the cross-sectional area are fixed while the depth of the chamber can be varied. The resulting systems are then characterized experimentally using the two-microphone wave decomposition method and compared with results from both finite element modeling and various approaches using two-port elements. The finite element modeling results are in excellent agreement with the measurements over the whole frequency range studied, while two-port modeling can be used with engineering precision in the low frequency range. The influence of mean flow was studied experimentally and was shown to have relatively small influence, mainly adding some additional losses at low frequencies.

The use of acoustic impedance to interpret the aeroacoustic behavior of flow ducts is discussed. The test case is a T-junction subjected to various combinations of grazing and bias mean flow. This geometry is not only prone to whistling but its aeroacoustic response varies with the incidence of the acoustic excitation, making it difficult to define a representative impedance. The acoustic impedance should, if correctly defined, have a real part that represents the exchange of energy between the hydrodynamic and acoustic fields and an imaginary part that can be interpreted as the inertia of the orifice. The appropriate definitions of the acoustic impedance and state variables are discussed and compared with experimental data.

The inclusion of flow-acoustic interaction effects in linear acoustic multiport models has been studied. It is shown, using a T-junction as illustration example, that as long the acoustic system is linear the required information is included in a scattering matrix obtained by experimental or numerical studies. Assuming small Mach numbers and low frequencies-as in most automotive silencer applications-the scattering matrix for the T-junction can be approximated using quasi-steady models. Models are derived that holds for all possible configurations of grazing and bias flow in the T-junctions. The derived models are then used to predict the performance of a novel silencer concept, where a resonator is formed by acoustically short-circuiting the inlet and outlet ducts of a flow reversal chamber. The agreement between experiments and simulations is excellent, justifying the use of the quasi-steady modeling approach.

The generation mechanism and possible counter measures for fluid driven whistles in low Mach number flow duct networks are discussed. The vortex sound model, where unstable shear layers interact with the acoustic field and act as amplifiers under certain boundary conditions, is shown to capture the physics well. Further, for the system to actually whistle an acoustic feedback to the amplifying shear layer is also needed. The demonstration example in this study is a generalized resonator configuration with annular volumes attached to a straight flow duct via a number of small holes, perforations, around the duct’s circumference. At each hole a shear layer is formed and the acoustic reflections from the resonator volumes and the up and downstream sides provides a possible feedback to them. Not only the Helmholtz mode but also ring modes in the annular volumes provide a feedback to sustain whistles.

Side mirrors are a known source of aerodynamically generated noise in vehicles. In this work we focus on mirrors for heavy duty trucks, they are large, often not designed with main focus on aero-acoustics and are located in a cumbersome position on the up-right A-pillar of European trucks. First the test method itself is discussed. To allow fast and cost effective design loops a bespoke vehicle, where the powertrain is separated from the cab, is developed. This vehicle can be run on a standard test track. While running the tests the wind speed is monitored, any variations are then compensated for in the post processing allowing averaging over longer time periods. For the mirror tests the door of the vehicle was especially trimmed to reduce other transmission paths into the cab than the side window. Additionally other possible aeroacoustic sources were reduced as much as practically possible.

Vehicle electrification is one of the biggest trends in the automotive industry. Without the presence of combustion engine, which is the main noise source on conventional vehicles, noise from other components becomes more perceivable; among these components, the cooling fan is one of the major noise sources, especially during battery charging. The design of cooling fan modules is usually carried out in the early stage before building prototype vehicles. Therefore, understanding the installation effects of the cooling fan on the radiated sound is essential to secure good customer satisfaction. In this study, three different measurement setups of cooling fans are carried out: free field, wall mounted, and in-vehicle measurement. Four cooling fan prototypes with different fan blade designs are used in each measurement. Correlations of these measurements are investigated through comparisons of the measurement results.