Characterization of Flap Edge Noise Radiation from a High-Fidelity Airframe Model

The results of an experimental study of the noise generated by a baseline high-fidelity airframe model are presented. The test campaign was conducted in the open-jet test section of the NASA Langley 14- by 22-foot Subsonic Tunnel on an 18%-scale, semi-span Gulfstream airframe model incorporating a trailing edge flap and main landing gear. Unsteady surface pressure measurements were obtained from a series of sensors positioned along the two flap edges, and far field acoustic measurements were obtained using a 97-microphone phased array that viewed the pressure side of the airframe. The DAMAS array deconvolution method was employed to determine the locations and strengths of relevant noise sources in the vicinity of the flap edges and the landing gear. A Coherent Output Power (COP) spectral method was used to couple the unsteady surface pressures measured along the flap edges with the phased array output. The results indicate that outboard flap edge noise is dominated by the flap bulb seal cavity with very strong COP coherence over an approximate model-scale frequency range of 1 to 5 kHz observed between the array output and those unsteady pressure sensors nearest the aft end of the cavity. An examination of experimental COP spectra for the inboard flap proved inconclusive, most likely due to a combination of coherence loss caused by decorrelation of acoustic waves propagating through the thick wind tunnel shear layer and contamination of the spectra by tunnel background noise at lower frequencies. Directivity measurements obtained from integration of DAMAS pressure-squared values over defined geometric zones around the model show that the baseline flap and landing gear are only moderately directional as a function of polar emission angle.