Simulations of whistling and the whistling potentiality of an in-duct orifice with linear aeroacoustics

This paper demonstrates a linear aeroacoustic simulation methodology to predict the whistling of an orifice plate in a flow duct. The methodology is based on a linearized Navier–Stokes solver in the frequency domain with the mean flow field taken from a Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) solution. The whistling potentiality is investigated via an acoustic energy balance for the in-duct element and good agreement with experimental data is shown. A Nyquist stability criterion based on the simulation data was applied to predict whistling of the orifice when placed in a finite sized duct and experiments were carried out to validate the predictions. The results indicate that although whistling is a nonlinear phenomena caused by an acoustic-flow instability feed-back loop, the linearized Navier–Stokes equations can be used to predict both whistling potentiality and a duct system's ability to whistle or not.

► An aeroacoustic simulations methodology based on the frequency domain Navier–Stokes equations are presented.
► A Nyquist stability criterion was applied to identify whistling in duct systems.
► Simulation results are validated by experiments, with good agreement.
► Results suggest that linear aeroacoustic simulations can be used to predict whistling in duct systems.