Adjoint-based optimization for understanding and suppressing jet noise

Advanced simulation tools, particularly large-eddy simulation techniques, are becoming capable of making quality predictions of jet noise for realistic nozzle geometries and at engineering relevant flow conditions. Increasing computer resources will be a key factor in improving these predictions still further. Quality prediction, however, is only a necessary condition for the use of such simulations in design optimization. Predictions do not themselves lead to quieter designs. They must be interpreted or harnessed in some way that leads to design improvements. As yet, such simulations have not yielded any simplifying principals that offer general design guidance. The turbulence mechanisms leading to jet noise remain poorly described in their complexity. In this light, we have implemented and demonstrated an aeroacoustic adjoint-based optimization technique that automatically calculates gradients that point the direction in which to adjust controls in order to improve designs. This is done with only a single flow solutions and a solution of an adjoint system, which is solved at computational cost comparable to that for the flow. Optimization requires iterations, but having the gradient information provided via the adjoint accelerates convergence in a manner that is insensitive to the number of parameters to be optimized. This paper, which follows from a presentation at the 2010 IUTAM Symposium on Computational Aero-Acoustics for Aircraft Noise Prediction, reviews recent and ongoing efforts by the author and co-workers. It provides a new formulation of the basic approach and demonstrates the approach on a series of model flows, culminating with a preliminary result for a turbulent jet.