Vortex sound

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Abstract
Vortex motion is the only source of aerodynamic sound production in low Mach number flow: the unsteady part of the vorticity distribution contributes linearly to the sound field. The following fundamental model flows, which illustrate the vorticity as the predominant sound source in unsteady flows, are discussed: An initially planar elliptic vortex; two identical coaxial initially elliptic vortex rings, where a special case is the leap-frogging of two identical circular rings. For head-on collision of two identical circular vortex rings and for several cases of vortex-body interaction good agreement between theory and experiment exists. If the Mach number is not low, other mechanisms have also to be considered. Here the theory is not yet fully developed. Experimental results for a vortex-airfoil interaction in transonic flow show that local flow separation and boundary layer as well as compressibility effects play a basic role. However, if the motion of vorticity would be known in subsonic flow, essential parts of the sound field could be calculated by the theory. —In addition, it is shown that the general theory is well suited to provide a better understanding of the scattering of sound waves by vortex motion, at least for long wave lengths.

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