Effect of plasma actuator-based control on flow-field and acoustics of supersonic rectangular jets

We perform a computational study on the effects of localized arc filament plasma actuator based control on the flow field and acoustics of a supersonic 2:1 aspect ratio rectangular jet. Post validation of the baseline jet, effects of control in the context of noise reduction are studied at experimentally guided forcing parameters, including frequencies St = 0.3, 1.0 and St = 2.0 with duty cycles of 20 % and 50 %. In general, high-frequency forcing reduces noise in the downstream direction, with the actuator signature appearing mostly in the sideline direction. Here St = 1, DC = 50 % yields an optimum balance between peak noise reduction (of similar to 1.5 dB) and actuator tones, with control being most effective on the major axis plane that bisects the shorter edges of the nozzle. Shear layer response to the most effective forcing includes generation of successive arrays of mutually interacting staggered lambda vortices, which eventually energize streamwise vortical elements. Causal mechanisms of noise mitigation are further elucidated as follows. First, the control reduces the energy within the supersonic phase speed regime of peak radiating frequencies by redistributing a part of it into a high-frequency band. Second, it enhances azimuthal percolation of energy into the first and second helical modes at frequencies where noise reduction is seen, thus weakening the radiatively efficient axisymmetric mode. Finally, sound-producing intermittent events in the jet are significantly reduced, thereby minimizing the high-intensity acoustic emissions. This small-perturbation-based control strategy results in only minor variations in the mean flow properties. However, reduced production and enhanced convection attenuate turbulent kinetic energy within the spreading shear layer in the controlled jet.