Acoustic-excited vortex shedding and acoustic nonlinearity at a rectangular slit with bias flow

The acoustical response of a slit with a mean bias flow is numerically studied. By means of a potential flow model based on the discrete vortex method and a spanwise-averaged three-dimensional Green׳s function, both unsteady vortical flow and slit impedance are obtained in a unified theoretical framework. The numerical simulation focuses on the acoustic-excited vortex structures of the slit flow while neglecting the viscous damping effect. Three representative flow features are demonstrated, which are the destabilized jet flow, the rolling up of vortex sheets and formation of vortex pairs, and the reversal flow with alternating vortex shedding on both sides of the slit. These features are corresponding to low, moderate, and high sound amplitude, respectively. The acoustic behavior of the slit can be divided into linear, transition, and nonlinear regimes. During its evolution through the three regimes, the resistance exhibits a constant value, a slight decrease, and a significant increase with the increasing sound amplitude. Correspondingly, the reactance first remains constant and then shows a modest decrease as the sound amplitude increases. The nonlinear effect also causes the gradual decrease of the mean bias velocity in company with the marked increase of the amplitude of the fluctuating velocity in the slit. The mean bias velocity decreases to about 80 percent of its linear value at the transition point where reversal flow begins to occur, and further decreases to only 10 percent in the highly nonlinear region. The slit impedance is also presented as a function of frequency and for different aspect ratios. And the effects of frequency and slit geometry are discussed.