Direct computation of the noise radiated by a subsonic cavity flow and application of integral methods

The goal of this paper is to investigate the acoustic field generated by the flow over a cavity using two different and complementary numerical methods. First, a Direct Numerical Simulation of the 2-D compressible Navier-Stokes equations is performed to obtain directly the radiated noise. The results of the acoustic and aerodynamic fields are compared to the experimental data in the literature. Second, this reference solution is compared to solutions provided by hybrid methods using the flowfield computed inside the cavity combined with an integral formulation to evaluate the far-field noise. Numerical issues of three integral methods are studied: the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings analogy that extends Lighthill's theory to account for solid boundaries and two Wave Extrapolation Methods from a control surface, the Kirchhoff and porous Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings methods. All methods show a good agreement with the Direct Numerical Simulation, but the first one is more expensive owing to an additional volume integral. However, the analogy can help in the analysis of wave patterns, by separating the direct waves from the reflected ones. The wave extrapolation methods from a surface are more efficient and provide a complementary tool to extend Computational Aeroacoustics near field to the very far field.