Computational Prediction and Comparison of Ground versus Air Launched Rocket Noise

An improved computational aeroacoustic approach is presented based on computational fluid dynamics in the near field and Kirchhoff integral/gradient adaptive transfinite elements formulations in the far field. Using this approach, a launch vehicle with a specific rocket engine thrust computationally simulated for launch and ascent phase assuming two different launch modes of ground and air launch. Study includes the ranges of Mach numbers from 0.89 to 3. It is seen that in the case of air launching the sound pressure levels are reduced significantly. Newly developed improved computational aeroacoustics approach is promising in reducing computational time without sacrificing computational accuracy.