The Generation Mechanism of the Flow-Induced Noise from a Sail Hull on the Scaled Submarine Model

Abstract

Flow-induced noise from the sail hull, which is induced by the horseshoe vortex, the boundary layer separation and the tail vortex shedding, is a significant problem for the underwater vehicles, while has not been adequately studied. We have performed simulations and experiments to reveal the noise generation mechanism from these flows using the scaled sail hull with part of a submarine body. The large eddy simulation and the wavenumber–frequency spectrum are adopted for simulations. The frequency ranges from 10 Hz to 2000 Hz. The simulation results show that the flow-induced noise with the frequency less than 500 Hz is mainly generated by the horseshoe vortex; the flow-induced noise because of the tail vortex shedding is mainly within the frequency of shedding vortex, which is 595 Hz in the study; the flow-induced noise caused by the boundary layer separation lies in the whole frequency range. Moreover, we have conducted the experiments in a gravity water tunnel, and the experimental results are in good accordance with the simulation results. The results can lay the foundation for the design of flow control devices to suppress and reduce the flow-induced noise from the sail hull.

Keywords

• flow-induced noise
• sail hull
• horseshoe vortex
• tail vortex shedding
• boundary layer separation