On the sensitivity of sound power radiated by aircraft panels to turbulent boundary layer parameters

Abstract The objective of the present study is to investigate and quantify how sensitive the response of an aircraft panel is to the change of the turbulent flow parameters. Several empirical models currently exist that provide the turbulent boundary layer wall pressure cross spectrum. These wall pressure cross spectrum models are usually dependent on four parameters: the reference power spectrum, the flow convective velocity, and the coherence lengths in streamwise and spanwise directions. All the proposed models provide different predictions for the wall pressure cross spectrum. Also, real flow conditions over aircraft do not conform to the ideal behavior of the turbulent boundary layer pressure predicted by the models. In this context, the questions that this work aims to explore are “What is the impact of different wall pressure estimates in the radiated sound power?” and “What is the effect of the range of possible flow conditions on the radiated sound power?”. For that objective, data from flight tests and estimates provided by the empirical models are used to predict radiated sound power, and the results are compared. A sensitivity analysis is performed and the relative contribution of each boundary layer parameter to the radiated sound power is obtained.