Role of structural noise in aircraft pressure cockpit from vibration action of new-generation engines

The evolution of new-generation aircraft engines is transitioning from a bypass ratio of 4–6 to an increased ratio of 8–12. This is leading to substantial broadening of the vibration spectrum of engines with a shift to the low-frequency range due to decreased rotation speed of the fan rotor, in turn requiring new solutions to decrease structural noise from engine vibrations to ensure comfort in the cockpits and cabins of aircraft.     

The effect of rubber dampers on engine’s NVH and thermal performance

Fins as extended surfaces are attached to the internal combustion engine surfaces for enhancing the heat transfer. However, these fins vibrate at various frequencies, which produce undesirable radiated noise. To mitigate this effect, automobile industry inserts rubber dampers between these fins. These rubber dampers reduce the fins’ amplitude of vibration and thus reduce the radiated noise from the fin surfaces. Investigations on the effect of rubber dampers on the engine’s NVH (Noise–Vibration–Harshness) and thermal performance using numerical (FEM and CFD) and experimental measurement have been presented in this paper. Experiments were conducted in the semi-anechoic chamber on an engine with and without rubber dampers to measure the radiated noise from the fins. It was found that rubber dampers assist in reducing engine high frequency noise signals at higher engine speeds. Modal and harmonic response analysis was carried out on various designs for NVH characteristics improvement. Prototypes of the final design was made and tested for the NVH performance. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed on engine with and without rubber dampers to investigate the thermal performance. It was found that rubber dampers increase engine temperature by about 10%. Effect of rubbers dampers on the cost and environmental impact has also been discussed. This paper provides a systematic procedure to investigate the effect of rubber dampers and a method to eliminate these dampers from the engines with the same NVH and better thermal performances.     

Dynamic behaviours of a full floating ring bearing supported turbocharger rotor with engine excitation

The rotor dynamic behaviour of turbochargers (TC) has been paid significant attention because of its importance in their healthy operation. Commonly, the TC is firmly mounted on engines and they will definitely suffer from the vibrations originated from engines in operation. However, only a limited number of papers have been published with consideration of this phenomenon. In this paper, a finite element model of a TC rotor supported by nonlinear floating ring bearings has been established. The nonlinear bearing forces have been calculated by a newly proposed analytical method. An efficient numerical integration approach has been employed to conduct the investigation including the traditional unbalance and the considered engine excitation effects in question. The results show that the unbalance will place considerable influence on the rotor response at a low working speed. At high speeds, the effect will be prevented by the dominant sub-synchronous vibrations, which also prohibit the appearance of a chaotic state. The novel investigation with the proposed model considering engine excitation reveals that the engine induced vibration will greatly affect the TC rotor response at relatively lower rotor speeds as well. At higher speed range, the dominant effect of sub-synchronous vibrations is still capable of keeping the same orbit shapes as that without engine excitation from a relative viewpoint.     

Experimental investigation of in-duct insertion loss of catalysts in internal combustion engines

Acoustic performance characteristics of catalysts in the exhaust system are important in the development of predictive tools for the breathing system of internal combustion engines. To understand the wave attenuation behavior of these elements with firing engines, dynamometer experiments are conducted on a 3.0L V-6 engine with two different exhaust systems: one with the catalysts on the cross-over pipe, and the other that replaces the catalysts with equal length straight pipes. The instantaneous crank-angle resolved pressure data are acquired at wide open throttle and 500 rpm intervals over the operating range of the engine (from 1000 to 5000 rpm) at various locations in both exhaust systems. The effect of the catalyst is then isolated and discussed in terms of insertion loss at critical locations in the exhaust system. The analysis is presented both in terms of time-domain and order-domain. The predictive capability of a finite-difference based time-domain nonlinear approach is also demonstrated as applied to large amplitude waves in the exhaust system of firing engines.     

A survey of low velocity and coaxial jet noise with application to prediction

A review of recent published data on low velocity jet noise is given together with previously unpublished results taken from the Rolls-Royce Noise Research Programme on model rigs and full-scale engines. Noise correlations are given which show that at low jet velocities, the low frequency exhaust noise which is commonly referred to as jet noise, emitted from the fan stream of a turbofan engine is considerably lower in level than that from the (hot) centre stream. From this result, a new prediction procedure for coaxial jet noise of turbofan engines is then developed. Comparisons are given which show that this method gives good correlation with measured results from a number of full-scale turbofan engines. The importance of accurate estimation of the “ground reflection effect” is clearly demonstrated. A critical review of published jet noise data from model coaxial jets is given and the need for further extensive testing emphasized.     

基于可调谐激光吸收光谱技术的柴油机排放NO浓度瞬态测量

NO_x是柴油机排放的主要污染物质,它对人体和环境的危害极大,其中NO含量又占NO_x总量的90％以上,因此合理准确的检测柴油机排放物中NO的含量对NO_x含量的检测尤为关键。现有的测试方法由于采用采样分析法,不能及时反映真实情况,光学检测方法作为一种新型的测试技术,在很多领域都有应用。结合光学检测方法对稳态和瞬态过程下的NO浓度用TLAS技术开展研究,通过模拟NO浓度的变化情况,验证这种方法在柴油机上应用的可行性,选择一台中心波长为5 263 nm的带间级联激光器用于检测,为获得不同浓度的混合气体设计一套配气混合系统,用高纯度的ＮＯ作为被测气体,N₂作为背景气体,配比不同浓度的测试样气,在稳态测量时,分别配比浓度为500,1 000,2 000 ppm的样气进行试验,得到相对误差小于1%,最大绝对误差为11.5 ppm。在瞬态测量中,分别对浓度增加与减少过程进行试验,实时测量气室内的浓度变化情况,在1 ms时间分辨率的情况下可实现5.2%的最大相对误差。通过设计的系统,可以实现NO浓度的瞬态测量,能将此方法应用到柴油机上,这种方法有利于研究柴油机的排放物含量。     

Effects of vibrations of a spatial filter in signal detection by matched filtering

In the present paper, the effect of transverse and longitudinal vibrations of a spatial filter in signal detection by optical matched filtering has been investigated. It has been assumed that the noise spectral density is uniform. Degradation in the performance of such an optical information processing system has been illustrated graphically. It is noticed that the effect of transverse vibrations is more severe than that of longitudinal vibrations. Results have also been compared with those obtained by Van der Lugt for the case of static displacement of a spatial filter.     

Defect identification in rods subject to forced vibrations using the spatial wavelet transform

Use of the wavelet transform (WT) to study the forced vibrations in a rod in order to detect the presence of a defect is proposed. The axial vibrations in an inhomogeneous rod, produced by the application of different forces, are simulated by the Network Simulation Method and the obtained response is analyzed with the WT. An analysis of the detection and location of defects for several applied forces and defects generated by locally changing density or stiffness of the rod is presented. A noise test was carried out to check the robustness of the technique in real situations.     

某汽车传动系扭振测试、诊断与数据处理分析

本文针对某轻型卡车由于传动系扭振导致加速过程中驾驶室内出现异常振动与轰鸣噪声现象进行研究。首先,为弄清车内振动噪声产生机理,对整车的扭振和车内振动噪声进行了实车道路试验;其次,对整车试验异常数据进行后处理,通过低通滤波和设置电压波动缓冲区的方法对其进行去噪和再生成,消除了加速工况下转速曲线失速和异常峰值的现象;最后,通过分析转速、振动和噪声数据得出：样车加速过程中发动机2阶激励频率达到整车传动系的固有频率时,引起了传动系扭转共振,连同传动轴的不平衡转动自振,通过悬置、中间支撑和后桥板簧传入到车内,引起驾驶室异常振动和轰鸣噪声。     

Ultra-lean limit extension for gasoline direct injection engine application via high energy ignition and flash boiling atomization

Extensive efforts have been made in achieving leaner combustion for gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines to further improve the thermal efficiency and reduce harmful emissions. Among these techniques, increasing ignition energy has been proven to be an effective method to achieve lean combustion. Few targets the atomization process of the fuel in generating a more homogenous fuel-air mixture, which is believed to be able to extend the lean flammability limit of the engine. This investigation explores the use of flash boiling atomization, a technique to improve spray atomization via elevating the fuel temperature, in combination with high energy ignition technique for better GDI engine performance under lean-burn conditions. For such purposes, a single-cylinder, optical GDI engine was used with high-speed imaging techniques, along with other measurement instruments. The fuel was preheated by a heating element and high energy ignitions were generated by a customized ignition system. ignitions with various initial currents (transistor coil ignition (TCI), 250 mA, and 500 mA) under both sub-cooled and flash boiling conditions were examined using different excess air ratios. It was found that using flash boiling atomization has extended the lean limit from 1.95 to 2.10 under the 500 mA initial current ignition. Other critical parameters such as indicative mean effective pressure (IMEP), emissions such as CO, NO_x, THC were also analyzed to demonstrate the impacts of high energy ignition and flash boiling atomization.     

Optical characterization of methanol compression-ignition combustion in a heavy-duty engine

In the search for renewable fuels, there are very few candidates as compelling as methanol. It can be derived from refuse material and industrial waste, while the infrastructure exists worldwide to support broad and fast adoption, potentially even as a “drop-in” fuel for existing vehicles with only minor modifications. The most efficient engines currently available are compression-ignition engines, however they often come with high emissions or compromises like the soot-NO_x trade-off. Methanol however, is a low sooting fuel that can potentially be used in such engines despite its high resistance to auto-ignition and reduce emissions while maintaining high engine efficiency. Due to the auto-ignition resistance, few studies of methanol compression-ignition exist and even fewer are conducted in an optically accessible engine. Here, two cases of premixed combustion and two of spray-driven combustion of methanol are studied in a Heavy-Duty optically accessible engine. Ignition and combustion propagation are characterized with a combination of time-resolved natural flame luminosity measurements and single-shot, acetone fuel-tracer, laser induced fluorescence. Additionally, Mie-scattering is used to identify the interaction between liquid spray and ignition sites in spray-driven methanol combustion. Results show that methanol combusts drastically different compared to conventional fuels, especially in spray-driven combustion. The evaporative cooling effect of methanol appears to play a major role in the auto-ignition characteristics of the delivered fuel. Ignition sites appear right at the end of injection when the evaporative cooling effect is withdrawn or at liquid length oscillations where, again the effect is momentarily retracted. To the authors’ knowledge, this has not been documented before.     

Application of frequency-domain linearized Euler solutions to the prediction of aft fan tones and comparison with experimental measurements on model scale turbofan exhaust nozzles

Although it is widely accepted that aircraft noise needs to be further reduced, there is an equally important, on-going requirement to accurately predict the strengths of all the different aircraft noise sources, not only to ensure that a new aircraft is certifiable and can meet the ever more stringent local airport noise rules but also to prioritize and apply appropriate noise source reduction technologies at the design stage. As the bypass ratio of aircraft engines is increased - in order to reduce fuel consumption, emissions and jet mixing noise - the fan noise that radiates from the bypass exhaust nozzle is becoming one of the loudest engine sources, despite the large areas of acoustically absorptive treatment in the bypass duct. This paper addresses this ‘aft fan’ noise source, in particular the prediction of the propagation of fan noise through the bypass exhaust nozzle/jet exhaust flow and radiation out to the far-field observer. The proposed prediction method is equally applicable to fan tone and fan broadband noise (and also turbine and core noise) but here the method is validated with measured test data using simulated fan tones. The measured data had been previously acquired on two model scale turbofan engine exhausts with bypass and heated core flows typical of those found in a modern high bypass engine, but under static conditions (i.e. no flight simulation). The prediction method is based on frequency-domain solutions of the linearized Euler equations in conjunction with perfectly matched layer equations at the inlet and far-field boundaries using high-order finite differences. The discrete system of equations is inverted by the parallel sparse solver MUMPS. Far-field predictions are carried out by integrating Kirchhoff's formula in frequency domain. In addition to the acoustic modes excited and radiated, some non-acoustic waves within the cold stream-ambient shear layer are also captured by the computations at some flow and excitation frequencies. By extracting phase speed information from the near-field pressure solution, these non-acoustic waves are shown to be convective Kelvin-Helmholtz instability waves. Strouhal numbers computed along the shear layer, based on the local momentum thickness also confirm this in accordance with Michalke's instability criterion for incompressible round jets with a similar shear layer profile. Comparisons of the computed far-field results with the measured acoustic data reveal that, in general, the solver predicts the peak sound levels well when the farfield is dominated by the in-duct target mode (the target mode being the one specified to the in-duct mode generator). Calculations also show that the agreement can be considerably improved when the non-target modes are also included, despite their low in-duct levels. This is due to the fact that each duct mode has its own distinct directionality and a non-target low level mode may become dominant at angles where the higher-level target mode is directionally weak. The overall agreement between the computations and experiment strongly suggests that, at least for the range of mean flows and acoustic conditions considered, the physical aeroacoustic radiation processes are fully captured through the frequency-domain solutions to the linearized Euler equations and hence this could form the basis of a reliable aircraft noise prediction method.     

Procedure for determining manufacturing defects in a diesel engine in a workshop

Customers’ demands regarding the quality level of automobile vehicles are constantly increasing. These demands include noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) quality as an important item.The main source of NVH in the vehicle is the engine and this is particularly the case for diesel engines. The design effort to reduce the emissions of noise and vibration transmitted to the vehicle’s driver could be lessened because of the assembly process variation and assembly errors.In the present paper, a procedure for assessing these variations or errors is suggested in order to maintain NVH performances within the limits of the design and achieve the quality level expected by customers.In order to achieve it, the measurement of the engine vibration level through three sensors allocated at strategic points is suggested. Some objective criteria based on the vibration level at certain frequencies are established to determine possible assembly defects as a final step of the assembly process.     

“Buzz-saw” noise: Prediction of the rotor-alone pressure field

Public expectations of lower environmental noise levels, and increasingly stringent legislative limits on aircraft noise, result in noise being a critical technical issue in the development of jet engines. Noise at take-off, when the engines are at high-power operating conditions, is a key reference level for engine noise certification. “Buzz-saw” noise is the dominant fan tone noise from modern high-bypass-ratio turbofan aircraft engines during take-off. Rotor-alone tones are the key component of buzz-saw noise. The rotor-alone pressure field is cut-off at subsonic fan tip speeds; buzz-saw noise is associated with supersonic fan tip speeds, or equivalently, high power engine operating conditions. A recent series of papers has described new work concerning the prediction of buzz-saw noise. The prediction method is based on modelling the nonlinear propagation of one-dimensional sawtooth waveforms. A sawtooth waveform is a simplified representation of the rotor-alone pressure field. Previous validation of the prediction method focussed entirely on reproducing the spectral characteristics of buzz-saw noise; this was dictated at that time by the availability of spectral data only for comparison between measurement and prediction. In this paper, full validation of the method by comparing measurement and prediction of the rotor-alone pressure field is published for the first time. It is shown that results from the modelling based on a one-dimensional sawtooth waveform capture the essential features of the rotor-alone pressure field as it propagates upstream inside a hard-walled inlet duct. This verifies that predictions of the buzz-saw noise spectrum, which are in good agreement with the measured data, are based on a model which reproduces the key physics of the noise generation process. Validation results for the rotor-alone pressure field in an acoustically lined inlet duct are also shown. Comparisons of the measured and predicted rotor-alone pressure field are more difficult to interpret because the acoustic lining significantly modifies the sawtooth waveform, but there remains good agreement with the measured spectral data. The buzz-saw noise prediction code used to generate the simulations in this paper has been used by the Rolls–Royce Noise Department since 2004.     

Effect of flash boiling injection on combustion and PN emissions of DISI optical engine fueled with butanol isomers/TPRF blends

Direct injection spark ignition (DISI) engines have been widely used in passenger cars due to their lower fuel consumption, better controllability, and high efficiency. However, DISI engines are suffering from wall wetting, imperfect mixture formation, excess soot emissions, and cyclic variations. Applying a new fuel atomization technique and using biofuels with their distinctive properties can potentially aid in improving DISI engines. In this research, the effects of isobutanol and 2-butanol and their blends with Toluene Primary Reference Fuel (TPRF) on spray characteristics, DISI engine combustion, and particle number (PN) emissions are investigated for conditions with and without flash boiling of the injected fuel. Spray characteristics are investigated using a constant volume chamber. Then, the combustion, flame propagation, and PN emissions are examined using an optical DISI engine. The fuel temperature is set to 298 K and 453 K for liquid injection and flash boiling injection, respectively. The tested blending ratio is 30 vol% butanol isomers and 70 vol% TPRF. The results of the spray test reveal that liquid fuel plumes are distinctly observed, and butanol blends show a slightly wider spray angle with lower penetration length compared to TPRF. However, under flash boiling injection, the sprays collapse towards the injector axis, forming a more extended single central vapor jet due to the plumes' interaction. Meanwhile, butanol blends yield a narrow spray angle with more extended penetration compared to TPRF. The flame visualization test shows that the flash boiling injection reduced yellow flames compared to liquid fuel injection, reflecting the improvements in mixture formation. Thus, improvements were noted in the heat release and PN emissions. Butanol addition reduced the PN emissions by 43% under regular liquid injection. Flash boiling injection provided an additional 25% reduction in PN emissions.     

Estimation of signal coherence threshold and concealed spectral lines applied to detection of turbofan engine combustion noise

Combustion noise from turbofan engines has become important, as the noise from sources like the fan and jet are reduced. An aligned and un-aligned coherence technique has been developed to determine a threshold level for the coherence and thereby help to separate the coherent combustion noise source from other noise sources measured with far-field microphones. This method is compared with a statistics based coherence threshold estimation method. In addition, the un-aligned coherence procedure at the same time also reveals periodicities, spectral lines, and undamped sinusoids hidden by broadband turbofan engine noise. In calculating the coherence threshold using a statistical method, one may use either the number of independent records or a larger number corresponding to the number of overlapped records used to create the average. Using data from a turbofan engine and a simulation this paper shows that applying the Fisher z-transform to the un-aligned coherence can aid in making the proper selection of samples and produce a reasonable statistics based coherence threshold. Examples are presented showing that the underlying tonal and coherent broad band structure which is buried under random broadband noise and jet noise can be determined. The method also shows the possible presence of indirect combustion noise.     

考虑弯曲和轴向振动模态的一维梁压电阻抗模型及试验研究

同时考虑一维梁结构的弯曲和轴向振动,对其压电阻抗模型进行建模分析和试验验证。在0.02～42 kHz频段内区分并标记了一维钢梁弯曲振动模态前18阶及轴向振动模态前3阶。结果表明:在0.02～7.5kHz频段内,数值计算和试验结果中谐振峰对应频率的相对误差较大:11.7%～16.5%,其原因可能是低频时振动能量较低且波的传播受结构阻尼、边界条件及环境噪音等因素影响较为明显;在7.5～42kHz范围内,两者谐振峰位置符合良好,相对误差较小:0.11%～2.31%,表明该模型在高频段具有较好的适用性;轴向振动模态对应频率大于弯曲振动模态。本研究为结构健康监测过程中检测频段的选取及损伤信息的提取提供参考。     

Particle Tracking Based Method for Evaluation of Cylinder‐to‐Cylinder Distribution of EGR/Blowby

Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) method has already shown its benefits on controlling NO_x emissions in internal combustion engines. An important issue associated with this method is homogeneous cylinder‐to‐cylinder distribution of the recirculating gas. Any maldistribution leads to power reduction and increase of other pollutants, which are strictly limited by recent emission laws. In addition to EGR, these limitations force the engine manufacturers to recycle blowby gases into the cylinders as homogeneous as possible. Since geometrical parameters and injection locations of EGR/blowby have substantial effects on homogenous cylinder‐to‐cylinder distribution of EGR/blowby gases, any developments in identifying the injecting locations with the least EGR/blowby maldistribution are of great practical importance. The existing experimental and numerical methods for evaluating the EGR/blowby maldistribution are based on the injection of air with different temperature or of different gas (mostly CO₂) from the main air stream. However, these methods are time consuming due to the large number of possible injection locations. It has been shown that the most uniform distribution cannot be obtained by just a single injection point; therefore, the study of simultaneous injection points becomes inevitable. Clearly, such a study is practically impossible with the present methods. In this research a new method based on particle tracking is proposed, which greatly reduces the time and effort to find the injection locations with the least maldistribution, especially when multiple injections are considered.