Transmission of sound through pipe walls in the presence of flow

The transmission of sound through pipe walls was studied experimentally under no-flow conditions as well as with steady air flow velocities up to 120 m/s. The test specimens were commercial pipe and tube of diameter ranging from 0·07 to 0·3 m, and thickness-to-diameter ratios from 0·12 to 0·2. The technique involved two reverberant rooms, one traversed by the test pipe to measure externally radiated sound, and one in which the test pipe terminated to measure internally propagated sound. Vibration of the pipe wall was also monitored to determine radiation efficiency.The results show that no-flow transmission loss (TL) is higher than predicted by available theoretical expressions, but that TL decreases strongly with increasing flow velocity. A qualitative explanation for the latter is offered. Radiation efficiency was found to be independent of flow velocity. The scaling of results between “similar” specimens was moderately successful. The results are documented in sufficient detail to permit their use for forming empirical models as well as for testing future theoretical predictions.