Comparison of acoustic performance of five muffler configurations on a small helicopter

A field noise measurement program has been conducted on a standard Bell 47 series helicopter and on one that had been modified with specially designed, airframe-mounted mufflers to reduce the engine exhaust noise. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the acoustic performance of five experimental exhaust muffler configurations for a helicopter reciprocating engine in an operational environment. All muffler configurations produced beneficial engine exhaust noise reductions but some configurations were markedly better than others. Flyover noise results indicated that maximum overall noise reductions of approximately 8 db were obtained with the various mufflers. The rotor noise was judged to be the dominant noise component for the muffler-equipped helicopters whereas the engine noise was the dominant component for the basic configuration.