Finlet rails for the reduction of the trailing-edge noise

Abstract

The present study focuses on the application of finlet rails as a passive technique of flow control to mitigate trailing-edge noise. Finlet rails are small cylinders whose axes are aligned along the streamwise direction, transversally positioned with respect to the trailing edge. In the first part of this study, the effects of finlet geometry on the aeroacoustic emission of a NACA 63₃−018 airfoil are investigated using an array of microphones. It is observed that reducing the transversal spacing of finlet rails leads to increasing the maximum noise reduction, found to be of 4 decibels at relatively low frequencies. An optimum for the height of the finlets was determined, equivalent to 1.6δ^∗, where δ^∗ is the displacement thickness of the boundary layer. With the aim of unveiling the underlying physical mechanism for finlet rails, PIV at high spatial resolution is applied around the surface treatment. It is found that the turbulence energy is lifted-up and moved away from the scattering edge, which attenuates the wall-pressure fluctuations. The observed attenuation of the wall-pressure fluctuations occurs at the energy-containing scales, which is an important difference with finlet fences. In the region underneath the finlet rails, the transversal size of the energetic structures diminishes when the surface treatment is applied. The combination of the lift-up of the turbulence structures, that reduces the wall-pressure fluctuations, with the smaller turbulence scales is responsible for the noise reduction observed for finlet rails.