Specifcation of Porous Materials for Low-Noise Trailing-Edge Applications

Abstract

Systematic testing of the microstructural and aeroacoustic properties of porous metals applicable as low-noise trailing-edge (TE) treatments has been initiated within the Col- laborative Research Center SFB 880|Fundamentals of High-Lift for Future Civil Aircraft. Generic TE noise experiments were performed at Re = 0.8x10^6 to 1.2x10^6 in DLR's open-jet AWB facility. Complementary flow measurements in the closed test section MUB wind-tunnel of the TU Braunschweig served to quantify the induced aerodynamic effects. The presented database forms part of an ongoing cumulative effort, combining experimental and numerical methods, to gain a deeper understanding of the prevalent TE noise reduction mechanisms. For the large variety of porous materials tested herein a clear dependence of the achieved broadband noise reduction (reaching 2-6 dB at maximum) on the flow resistivity was identified. Basic design recommendations for material resistivity and pore sizes, the latter to minimize high-frequency self-noise contributions, were deduced for low-noise TE applications. An acoustic nearfield pressure release across the porous region, adversely coupled with a loss in lift performance for porous TE replacements, appears as the major noise-reduction requirement.