Experimental Verification of the Theoretical Model of Sound Radiation from an Unflanged Duct with Low Mean Flow

The paper deals with experimental verification of results provided by theoretical approach to the problem of sound radiation from an unflanged duct with mean flow of the medium taking into account existence of all allowable wave modes and, in particular, occurrence of the so-called unstable wave, which results in decay of radiation on and in vicinity of the duct axis. The flow is assumed to be uniform with the source of flow located inside the duct, which is the case frequently occurring in industrial systems. Mathematical considerations, accounting for multimodal and multifrequency excitation and diffraction at the duct outlet, are based on the model of the semi-infinite unflanged hard duct with flow. In the experimental set-up a fan, mounted inside the duct served as the source of flow and noise at the same time modelled as an array of uncorrelated sources of broadband noise, what led to the axisymmetrical shape of the sound pressure directivity characteristics. The theoretical analysis was carried out for the root mean square acoustic pressure in the far-field conditions. Experimental results are presented in the form of the measured pressure directivity characteristics obtained for uniform flow directed inwards and outwards the duct compared to this observed for the zero-flow case. The directivity was measured in one-third. octave bands throughout five octaves (500 Hz-16 kHz) which, for a duct with radius of 0.08 m, corresponds to the range 0.74-23.65 in the reduced frequency ka (Helmholtz number) domain. The results obtained are consistent with theoretical solutions presented by Munt and Savkar, according to whom the weakening of the on-axis and close-to-axis radiation should take place in the presence of medium flow. Experimental results of the present paper indicate that this effect is observed even for the Mach number as low as 0.036.