Time-frequency analysis techniques are proposed as a necessary tool for the analysis of acoustics generated by helicopter transient maneuvering flight. Such techniques are necessary as the acoustic signals related to transient maneuvers are inherently unsteady. The wavelet transform is proposed as an appropriate tool, and it is compared to the more standard short-time Fourier transform technique through an investigation using several appropriately sized interrogation windows. It is shown that the wavelet transform provides a consistent spectral representation, regardless of employed window size. The short-time Fourier transform, however, provides spectral amplitudes that are highly dependent on the size of the interrogation window, and so is not an appropriate tool for this situation. An extraction method is also proposed to investigate blade-vortex interaction noise emitted during helicopter transient maneuvering flight. The extraction method allows for the investigation of blade-vortex interactions independent of other sound sources. The method is based on filtering the spectral data calculated through the wavelet transform technique. The filter identifies blade-vortex interactions through their high amplitude, high frequency impulsive content. The filtered wavelet coefficients are then inverse transformed to create a pressure signature solely related to blade-vortex interactions. This extraction technique, along with a prescribed wake model, is applied to experimental data extracted from three separate flight maneuvers performed by a Bell 430 helicopter. The maneuvers investigated include a steady level flight, fast- and medium-speed advancing side roll maneuvers. A sensitivity analysis is performed in order to determine the optimal tuning parameters employed by the filtering technique. For the cases studied, the optimized tuning parameters were shown to be frequencies above 7 main rotor harmonics, and amplitudes stronger than 25% (-6 dB) of the energy in the main rotor harmonic. Further, it is shown that blade-vortex interactions can be accurately extracted so long as the blade-vortex interaction peak energy signal is greater or equal to the energy in the main rotor harmonic. An in-depth investigation of the changes in the blade-vortex interaction signal during transient advancing side roll maneuvers is then conducted. It is shown that the sound pressure level related to blade-vortex interactions, shifts from the advancing side, to the retreating side of the vehicle during roll entry. This shift is predicted adequately by the prescribed wake model. However, the prescribed wake model is shown to be inadequate for the prediction of blade-vortex interaction miss distance, as it does not respond to the roll rate of the vehicle. It is further shown that the sound pressure levels are positively linked to the roll rate of the vehicle. Similar sound pressure level directivities and amplitudes can be seen when vehicle roll rates are comparable. The extraction method is shown to perform admirably throughout each maneuver. One limitation with the technique is identified, and a proposal to mitigate its effects is made. The limitation occurs when the main rotor harmonic energy drops below an arbitrary threshold. When this happens, a decreased spectral amplitude is required for filtering; which leads to the extraction of high frequency noise unrelated to blade-vortex interactions. It is shown, however, that this occurs only when there are no blade-vortex interactions present. Further, the resulting sound pressure level is identifiable as it is significantly less than the peak blade-vortex interaction sound pressure level. Thus the effects of this limitation are shown to be negligible.

During the Higher Harmonic Control Aeroacoustic Rotor Test, extensive measurements of the rotor aerodynamics, the far-field acoustics, the wake geometry and the blade motion for powered, descent, flight conditions were made. These measurements have been used to validate and improve the prediction of blade-vortex interaction (BVI) noise. The improvements made to the BVI modeling after the evaluation of the test data are discussed. The effects of these improvements on the acoustic-pressure predictions are shown. These improvements include re-structuring the wake, modifying the core size, incorporating the measured blade motion into the calculations and attempting to improve the dynamic blade response. A comparison of four different implementations of the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings equation is presented. A common set of aerodynamic input has been used for this comparison. (AN).

Perpendicular blade vortex interactions are a common occurrence in helicopter rotor flows. Under certain conditions they produce a substantial proportion of the acoustic noise. However, the mechanism of noise generation is not well understood. Specifically, turbulence associated with the trailing vortices shed from the blade tips appears insufficient to account for the noise generated. The hypothesis that the first perpendicular interaction experienced by a trailing vortex alters its turbulence structure in such a way as to increase the acoustic noise generated by subsequent interactions is examined. To investigate this hypothesis a two-part investigation was carried out. In the first part, experiments were performed to examine the behavior of a streamwise vortex as it passed over and downstream of a spanwise blade in incompressible flow. Blade vortex separations between +/- one eighth chord were studied for at a chord Reynolds number of 200,000. Three-component velocity and turbulence measurements were made in the flow from 4 chord lengths upstream to 15 chordlengths downstream of the blade using miniature 4-sensor hot wire probes. These measurements show that the interaction of the vortex with the blade and its wake causes the vortex core to loose circulation and diffuse much more rapidly than it otherwise would. Core radius increases and peak tangential velocity decreases with distance downstream of the blade. True turbulence levels within the core are much larger downstream than upstream of the blade. The net result is a much larger and more intense region of turbulent flow than that presented by the original vortex and thus, by implication, a greater potential for generating acoustic noise. In the second part, the turbulence measurements described above were used to derive the necessary inputs to a Blade Wake Interaction (BWI) noise prediction scheme. This resulted in significantly improved agreement between measurements and calculations of the BWI noise spectr...

A comparison of experimental acoustics data and computational predictions was performed for a helicopter rotor blade interacting with a parallel vortex. The experiment was designed to examine the aerodynamics and acoustics of parallel Blade-Vortex Interaction (BVI) and was performed in the Ames Research Center (ARC) 80- by 120-Foot Subsonic Wind Tunnel. An independently generated vortex interacted with a small-scale, nonlifting helicopter rotor at the 180 deg azimuth angle to create the interaction in a controlled environment. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to calculate near-field pressure time histories. The CFD code, called Transonic Unsteady Rotor Navier-Stokes (TURNS), was used to make comparisons with the acoustic pressure measurement at two microphone locations and several test conditions. The test conditions examined included hover tip Mach numbers of 0.6 and 0.7, advance ratio of 0.2, positive and negative vortex rotation, and the vortex passing above and below the rotor blade by 0.25 rotor chords. The results show that the CFD qualitatively predicts the acoustic characteristics very well, but quantitatively overpredicts the peak-to-peak sound pressure level by 15 percent in most cases. There also exists a discrepancy in the phasing (about 4 deg) of the BVI event in some cases. Additional calculations were performed to examine the effects of vortex strength, thickness, time accuracy, and directionality. This study validates the TURNS code for prediction of near-field acoustic pressures of controlled parallel BVI. McCluer, Megan S. Ames Research Center...