Simulation of acoustic characteristics and mechanisms of powered resonance tubeso

Flow simulations have been performed as part of our effort to better understand powered resonance tube behavior. Scaled simulations of the powered resonance tube have produced reasonable correspondence to laboratory experiments, in terms of the frequency (simulated at 7.6 kHz, laboratory value 7.2 kHz) and amplitude (a simulation value of 160dB, laboratory value 157dB) of the resonant response. The laboratory experiments were performed at Illinois Institute of Technology and are described in Raman et al. (2002). The simulations suggest new insights into the complexity and details of the flowfield. The simulations show that the flow in the integration slot is primarily on the resonance tube side, with almost no flow on the supply tube side of the integration slot. The numerical results suggest that the acoustic waves from the resonance in the resonance tube drive an unsteady separation at the supply tube. The unsteady separation at the supply tube in turn drives the observed large oscillations in the shock structure. The unsteady separation seems to be a key aspect of the resonance phenomena.