On the acoustic performance of rectangular splitter silencers in the presence of mean flow

Dissipative splitter silencers are often used to reduce the noise emitted in ventilation and gas turbine systems. It is well known that the acoustic performance of a splitter silencer changes under the influence of the convective effects of a mean gas flow and so in this article a theoretical model is developed to include the effects of mean flow. The theoretical model is based on a hybrid finite element method which enables the inclusion of bull nose fairings and a perforated screen separating the mean gas flow from a bulk reacting porous material. Predictions are compared against experimental measurements obtained both with and without mean flow. Good agreement between prediction and measurement is generally observed in the absence of mean flow, although it is seen that for silencers with a low percentage open area the silencer insertion loss is over predicted at higher frequencies. When mean flow is present, problems with the experimental methodology are observed at relatively modest mean flow velocities, and so comparison between prediction and experiment is limited to relatively low face velocities. However, experiment and theory both show that the insertion loss reduces at low frequencies when mean flow is in the direction of sound propagation, and at high frequencies the influence of mean flow is generally much smaller. Following additional theoretical investigations it is concluded that the influence of mean flow on splitter silencer performance should be accounted for at low frequencies when silencer airway velocities are greater than about 20 m/s; however, at higher frequencies one may generally neglect the effect of mean flow, even at higher velocities. Predictions obtained using the hybrid method are also compared to a simplified point collocation approach and it is demonstrated that the computationally efficient point collocation method may be used to investigate the effects of mean flow in a splitter silencer without loss of accuracy.