This work describes an experimental study of the flow field and wall pressure fluctuations induced by quasi-two-dimensional incompressible turbulent boundary layers overflowing a forward-facing step (FFS). Pressure fluctuations are measured upstream and downstream of an instrumented FFS step model installed inside a large scale recirculation water tunnel, while two-dimensional (2D) velocity fields are measured close to the step via 2D particle image velocimetry (PIV). The overall flow physics is studied in terms of averaged velocity and vorticity fields for different Reynolds numbers based on the step’s height. The wall pressure statistics are analyzed in terms of several indicators, including the root mean squares and probability density functions of the pressure fluctuations, demonstrating that the most relevant flow structure is the unsteady recirculation bubble formed at the reattachment region downstream of the step. Pressure spectra and cross correlations are computed as well, and the convection velocity characterizing the propagation of hydrodynamic perturbations is determined as a function of the distance to the vertical side of the step. The simultaneous measurement of time-resolved PIV fields and wall pressure signals enabled us to compute the pressure/velocity cross correlations in the region downstream of the step and substantiated the relevant role played by the recirculation bubble.

An experimental investigation of pressure fluctuations generated by a single-stream compressible jet is carried out in an anechoic wind tunnel. Measurements are performed using a linear array of microphones installed in the near region of the jet and a polar arc of microphones in the far field. The main focus of the paper is on the analysis of the pressure fluctuations in the near field. Three novel signal processing techniques are presented to provide the decomposition of the near-field pressure into hydrodynamic and acoustic components. The procedures are all based on the application of the wavelet transform to the measured pressure data and possess the distinctive property of requiring a very simple arrangement to obtain the desired results (one or two microphones at most). The hydrodynamic and acoustic pressures are characterized separately in terms of their spectral and statistical quantities and a direct link between the acoustic pressure extracted from the near field and the actual noise in the far field is established. The analysis of the separated pressure components sheds light on the nearly Gaussian nature/intermittent behaviour of the acoustic/hydrodynamic pressure. The higher sensitivity of the acoustic component to the Mach number variation has been highlighted as well as the different propagation velocities of the two pressure components. The achieved outcomes are validated through the application to the same data of existing separation procedures evidencing the advantages and limitations of the new methods.

A numerical database (Bernardini & Pirozzoli, Phys. Fluids, vol. 23, 2011, 085102) is analysed to investigate cross-statistics of wall-pressure fluctuations induced by supersonic turbulent boundary layers developing over a rigid smooth wall without a pressure gradient. The Mach number spans from 2 to 4 and a relatively large range of Reynolds numbers is considered. It is shown, for the first time, that the cross-statistics of wall-pressure fluctuations at such high Mach numbers is very similar to that usually observed in incompressible flow conditions. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that theoretical predictions provided by the well-known Corcos and Efimtsov models continue to apply.

The statistical properties of wall pressure fluctuations generated on a rigid flat plate by a tangential incompressible single stream jet are investigated experimentally. The study is carried out at moderate Reynolds number and for different distances between the nozzle axis and the flat plate. The overall aerodynamic behaviour is described through hot wire anemometer measurements, providing the effect of the plate on the mean and fluctuating velocity. The pressure field acting on the flat plate was measured by cavity-mounted microphones, providing point-wise pressure signals in the stream-wise and span-wise directions. Statistics of the wall pressure fluctuations are determined in terms of time-domain and Fourier-domain quantities and a parametric analysis is conducted in terms of the main geometrical length scales. Possible scaling laws of auto-spectra and coherence functions are presented and implications for theoretical modelling are discussed.

This paper investigates the aeroacoustic interactions of small hovering rotors, using both experiments and computations. The experiments were conducted in an anechoic chamber with arrays of microphones setup to evaluate the azimuthal and polar directivity. The computational methodology consists of high fidelity detached eddy simulations coupled to the Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings equation, supplemented by a trailing edge broadband noise code. The aerodynamics and aeroacoustics of a single rotor are investigated first. The simulations capture a Reynolds number effect seen in the performance parameters that results in the coefficient of thrust changing with the RPM. The acoustic analysis enables the identification of self-induced noise sources. Next, dual side-by-side rotors are studied in both counter-rotating and co-rotating configurations to quantify the impact of their interactions. Higher harmonics appear due to the interactions and it is verified that the counter-rotating case leads to more noise and a less uniform azimuthal directivity. Difficulties that arise when trying to validate small rotor calculations against experiments are discussed. Comparisons of computational and experimental results yield further insight into the noise mechanisms that are captured by each methodology.

The increasing size of aircraft engines is leading to reconsideration of their conventional integration in the under-wing configuration due to the strong interaction between the jet and the airframe components. As a consequence, more insight is needed into the complex mechanisms underlying the interaction phenomenon between the jet flow and a surface. The objective of this paper is to carry out a series of experimental tests on a simplified laboratory-scale model to approach/deepen the problem. This analysis is the continuation of a previous study (Di Marco et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 770, 2015, pp. 247–272) on a rigid flat plate installed tangentially to the axis of an incompressible jet. In the present work, the velocity and wall pressure fields were simultaneously measured for different radial distances of the plate from the nozzle axis. Pointwise hot-wire anemometer measurements were carried out to characterize the effect of the plate on the velocity field statistics up to the fourth-order moment. The analysis revealed that the presence of the plate brings about a deflection of the mean aerodynamic field over the surface and a reduction of the turbulence intensity. Wall pressure fluctuations induced by the jet flow over the plate were measured by a linear array of cavity-mounted microphones placed along the streamwise direction. The velocity/pressure cross-statistics are achieved in the time and frequency domains using cross-correlations and Fourier analysis. A wavelet-based conditional sampling procedure is applied as well to characterize the flow signatures related to the velocity and wall pressure fluctuations, revealing that the surface induces the breakdown of the large-scale turbulent structures. The dependence of the multivariate and conditioned statistics on the plate distance from the jet as well as on the streamwise and crosswise probe positions is extensively discussed. Different organized flow motions over the surface are found based on the wall pressure events detected. A scaling criterion for velocity signatures is also presented addressing the governing parameters of the jet–plate interaction phenomenon.