Jet-noise control by fluidic injection from a rotating plug: linear and nonlinear sound-source mechanisms

We present a study of the turbulent and acoustic fields of subsonic jets, controlled by means of a novel actuator that introduces perturbations via steady-fluidic actuation from a rotating centrebody. The actuation can produce louder or quieter jets, and these are analysed using time-resolved stereoscopic particle image velocimetry and a hot-wire anemometer. We place the analysis in the framework of wavepackets and linear stability theory, whence we show, using solutions of the linear parabolised stability equations, that the quieter flows can be understood to result from a mean-flow deformation that modifies wavepacket dynamics, and in particular their phase velocities, which are significantly reduced. The mean-flow deformation is shown, by a triple decomposition, to be due to the generation of Reynolds stresses associated with incoherent turbulence (rather than coherent structures) which arises when the actuation energises the flow with a frequency–azimuthal wavenumber ( ${\it\omega}$ – $m$ ) combination to which the mean flow is stable. When the actuation excites the flow with an ${\it\omega}$ – $m$ combination to which the mean flow is unstable, the response is dominated by coherent structures, whose rapid growth takes them beyond the linear limit, where they undergo quadratic wave interactions and lead, consequently, to a louder flow.