Towards the noise reduction of piezoelectrical-driven synthetic jet actuators

•Changes to synthetic jet actuator geometry are explored to reduce actuator noise.•Double-chamber actuators reduce noise through dipole/anti-phase effect.•Lobed-orifice actuators reduce noise through intensified mixing of the jet flow.•Demonstrable levels of noise reduction are achieved without significantly reducing jet velocity.

This work details an experimental investigation aimed at reducing the noise output of piezoelectrical-driven synthetic jet actuators while minimising peak jet velocity reduction. The study considers double-chamber actuator for anti-phase noise suppression and lobed orifice as a method to enhance jet turbulent mixing to suppress jet noise. The study involved the design, manufacture and bench test of interchangeable actuator hardware. Hot-wire anemometry and microphone recordings were employed to acquire velocity and sound pressure level measurements respectively across a range of excitation frequencies for a fixed diaphragm clamping and input voltage. The data analysis indicated a 26% noise reduction (16 dB) from operating a single-chamber, round orifice actuator to a double-chamber, lobed orifice one at the synthetic jet resonant frequency. Results also showed there was a small reduction in peak jet velocity of 7% (∼3 m/s) between these two cases based on orifices of the same discharge area. The electrical-to-fluidic power conversion efficiency of the double-chamber actuator was found to be 15% for both orifice types at the resonant frequency; approximately double the efficiency of a single-chamber actuator.