Developing large-scale wavelike eddies and the near jet noise field

Abstract

In this paper we study the development of large-scale wavelike eddies, or instability waves, in a turbulent free shear flow. The model is based on splitting the flow into three components: the mean flow, the instability wave and the fine-scale turbulence. The wave is considered to be sufficiently weak so that it is developing in a pre-existing, known turbulent mean shear flow. The basis for the wave development is its time-averaged kinetic energy flux equation in integral form and the wave description is obtained through a shape assumption: the amplitude is determined by the energy equation; the shape function and local characteristics are determined by the local linear stability theory. The wave energy changes as it is convected into a different streamwise position where its instability properties change. The energy balancing mechanisms are production, work done by the wave pressure gradients and the energy transfer between the wave and the fine-scale turbulence via the wave-induced Reynolds stresses. The latter is taken to be dissipative via an eddy-viscosity model, inertia—elastic effects not being considered. According to forceful evidence from observations in turbulent free shear flows, the wave development is taken as being upstream controlled and begins from a distinct origin rather than being the result of local forcing by variations of the fine-scale turbulent Reynolds stresses. The wave energy flux initially grows via energy supplied by the inflexional mean flow when the shear layer is relatively thin but eventually decays through action of the finescale turbulence, directly via the dissipative energy transfer and indirectly via the turbulence-diffused, rapidly thickened mean shear flow, which renders the production mechanism less available. Numerical calculations are carried out for a turbulent mean shear flow, with speed Tie on one side and zero in the ambient region, its distribution being approximated by a sine profile in the Howarth-Dorodnitsyn co-ordinate. The flow develops from an initial boundary layer of finite thickness δ0 to a similar free-mixing layer far downstream. The wave is characterized by a dimensionless frequency parameter β0 formed from the wave frequency β*, ue, and δ0. Convection speeds, in general, increase in the downstream direction. They are subsonic initially for Mach numbers Me < 2 and remain subsonic for Me < 1.5. For Me > 2 peaking in the local intensity levels occurs when convection speeds are supersonic and this may explain the observed supersonic far-field radiation a t the higher jet speeds. Induced wave patterns in the ambient region are determined by the complex instability-wave speed rather than the real convection speed alone, consequently ambient wave patterns exist even a t subsonic convection speeds, but are more heavily damped near the origin and fan out laterally downstream for a given β0. According to the present model, if the waves are given an upstream excitation level about 10−3–10−2 times that of Ue, resembling, for instance, the levels of the upstream wall turbulent boundary-layer fluctuations over a wide, low-frequency, spectrum or other possible disturbances a t the nozzle exit, the development of the calculated near noise field as a function of downstream distance bears striking resemblances to the observed near jet noise field and is thus fully sufficient to explain such observations. This comparison leads to the suggestion that the essential energetics of the large-scale wavelike eddies are that they are formed at the origin, amplified and subsequently decay in a developing mean turbulent free shear flow. Therefore this leads also to a most important indication of shear-layer instabilities and noise control. If their historical evolution can be controlled so can the noise from the damaging wavelike eddies. Methods of control on the basis of this model are discussed.