Aeroacoustic characteristics of a rectangular multi-element supersonic jet mixer-ejector nozzle

This paper provides a unique, detailed evaluation of the acoustics and aerodynamics of a rectangular multi-element supersonic jet mixer-ejector noise suppressor. The performance of such mixer-ejectors is important in aircraft engine applications for noise suppression and thrust augmentation. In contrast to most prior experimental studies on ejectors that reported either aerodynamic of acoustic data, the present work documents both types of data. Information on the mixing, pumping, ejector wall pressure distribution, thrust augmentation and noise suppression characteristics of four simple, multi-element, jet mixer-ejector configurations is presented. The four configurations included the effect of ejector area ratio (AR = ejector cross-sectional area/total primary nozzle area) and the effect of non-parallel ejector walls. The configuration that produced the best noise suppression characteristics has also been studied in detail. The present results show that ejector configurations that produced the maximum pumping (secondary (induced) flow normalized by the primary flow) also exhibited the lowest wall pressures in the inlet region, and the maximum thrust augmentation. When cases having the same total mass flow were compared, one found that noise suppression trends corresponded with those for pumping (per unit secondary area). Surprisingly, the mixing (quantified by the peak Mach number, and flow uniformity) at the ejector exit exhibited no relationship to the noise suppression at moderate primary jet fully expanded M-j (the Mach number that would have been attained under isentropic expansion). However, the noise suppression dependence on the mixing was apparent at M-j = 1.6. The above observations are justified by noting that the mixing at the ejector exit is not a strong factor in determining the radiated noise when noise produced internal to the ejector dominates the noise field outside the ejector. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.