Predicting Noise From Aircraft Turbine-Engine Combustors

COMBUSTOR and CNOISE are computer codes that predict far-field noise that originates in the combustors of modern aircraft turbine engines -- especially modern, low-gaseous-emission engines, the combustors of which sometimes generate several decibels more noise than do the combustors of older turbine engines. COMBUSTOR implements an empirical model of combustor noise derived from correlations between engine-noise data and operational and geometric parameters, and was developed from databases of measurements of acoustic emissions of engines. CNOISE implements an analytical and computational model of the propagation of combustor temperature fluctuations (hot spots) through downstream turbine stages. Such hot spots are known to give rise to far-field noise. CNOISE is expected to be helpful in determining why low-emission combustors are sometimes noisier than older ones, to provide guidance for refining the empirical correlation model embodied in the COMBUSTOR code, and to provide insight on how to vary downstream turbinestage geometry to reduce the contribution of hot spots to far-field noise.