Attenuation of sound in wide ducts with flow at elevated pressure and temperature

At ambient conditions the acoustic losses within the fluid are two orders of magnitude smaller than those occurring at a duct wall, so that they are commonly neglected in duct acoustics. Recent measurements revealed an increasing sound attenuation at elevated pressure and temperature, which cannot be justified by the viscothermal losses at the wall alone. In the first part, this paper compiles available models to pursue a comprehensive treatment of the sound attenuation in a duct at elevated pressure and temperature. The second part presents an experimental study of the attenuation. The measurements have been performed at the Hot Acoustic Test Rig, where pressure and temperature can be independently adjusted from their ambient values up to 1100 kPa and 823 K, respectively. The theoretical prediction of the total losses matches the experimental data, thus confirming that the losses within the fluid cannot be neglected in ducts at elevated pressure and temperature.