Using Acoustic Liner for Fan Noise Reduction in Modern Turbofan Engines

With the increase in global air travel, aircraft noise has become a major public issue. In modern aircraft engines, only a small proportion of the air that passes through the whole engine actually goes through the core of the engine, the rest passes around it down the bypass duct. A successful method of reducing noise further, even in ultra-high bypass ratio engines, is to absorb the sound created within the engine. Acoustically absorbent material or acoustic liners have desirable acoustic attenuation properties and thus are commonly used to reduce noise in jet engines. The liners typically are placed upstream and downstream of the rotors (fans) to absorb sound before it propagates out of the inlet and exhaust ducts. Noise attenuation can be dramatically improved by increasing the area over which a noise reducing material is applied and by placing the material closer to the noise source. In this paper we will briefly discuss acoustic liner applications in modern turbofan engines.