Transmission and reflection of acoustic and entropy waves through a stator–rotor stage

The propagation of acoustic, entropy and vorticity waves through turbine stages is of significant interest in the field of core noise. In particular, entropy spots have been shown to generate significant noise when accelerated through turbine stages: the so-called indirect combustion noise. Analytical models for the propagation of acoustic, vorticity and entropy waves through a stator vane, developed since the seventies, are generally based on restrictive assumptions such as low frequency waves. In order to analyze such assumptions, the theory of Cumpsty and Marble is extended to rotating rows and applied to a 2D stator–rotor turbine stage. The theoretical transfer functions are then compared with numerical predictions from forced compressible Large-Eddy Simulations of a 2D stator–rotor configuration, using a fluid–fluid coupling strategy with an overset-grid method. The comparisons between the analytical model and the simulations are in good agreement. To improve the analytical predictions, the attenuation due to the entropy spot deformation through the stator vane or the rotor blade is then included, modeled either analytically or extracted from the mean flow of the simulations. The complete analytical model reveals a good agreement with 2D simulations, which allows the prediction and minimization of both direct and indirect noise at the design-stage without computation.