Aeroacoustic Interactions of a Trailing Edge Mounted Propeller and Flat Plate

What is it about?

This paper explores the acoustic interactions between a propeller and a wing; taking a fundamental, experimental approach. Two differently-sized flat plates (which modelled the wing) were moved with respect to the propeller position and compared to a propeller operating in isolation in order to give an indication of what aeroacoustic interactions take place between the propeller and the wing surface. The paper gives a broad overview of what effect the positioning between the propeller and wing has on the acoustic performance.

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Photo by Kilian Karger on Unsplash

Photo by Kilian Karger on Unsplash

Why is it important?

There is a growing interest in propeller-driven aircraft of various scales, from drones to full sized commercial aircraft. Noise is a growing issue for public health and for broad acceptance of some of the novel aircraft configurations being proposed it must be minimised. Our findings show that the relative location between the propeller and wing plays an essential role in determining the levels of noise being propagated to the acoustic far-field. We show a clear impact on both the directivity and magnitude of lower frequency, tonal noise as well as the higher frequency, broadband noise when the propeller is shifted relatively small distances with respect to the flat plate surface. The results show that locations exist at which there is significant potential for noise reduction in both the tonal and broadband noise content.

Perspectives