Flap Side-Edge Noise Prediction within Conceptual Aircraft Design

Abstract

Aircraft noise analysis has been a principal topic regarding environmental issues for aviation industry and research community. Besides noise abatement procedures the focus is leaning more towards reduction at the source itself. Noise prediction for optimization purposes of existing technologies as well as integration within design processes of aircraft is required more than ever. Relatively new and still under development, yet already proven to be beneficial is the approach of noise prediction within conceptual aircraft design. To succeed it requires a componential and parametric prediction approach with dominating noise sources adequately represented and modeled. One missing source in such a prediction scheme is the flap side edge. Recent research efforts have again indicated potential dominance of this noise source. Due to complexity of the source mechanisms and practicability limitations it is difficult to investigate the contribution of the flap side edge on the overall aircraft noise. Therefore, a parametric and componential simulation approach is applied to perform a flap side edge noise analysis. For this purpose a semi-empirical prediction model is implemented within an existing parametric aircraft noise analysis module. The aim of the current research study is to analyze the flap side edge noise and provide more insight and knowledge of its potential dominance.