Wave Equation Acoustic Model — ANSYS Fluent CFD SimulationDescriptionThis project explores the Wave Equation acoustic model in ANSYS Fluent, one of the most versatile acoustic-modeling techniques available in modern CFD. The Wave Equation model describes how sound propagates through a medium, and this project applies it to a fundamental problem in hydroacoustics: the noise induced by water flowing around a cylinder. Because the medium here is water rather than air, the case also introduces the specific challenges of liquid-based (hydroacoustic) simulation, where sound behaves differently than it does in a gas. As the opening project of the Acoustics: Beginner CFD Training Package, it introduces the most fundamental acoustic model — sound propagation itself — establishing the foundation for the FW-H and Broadband models that follow.MethodologyThe optimized 2D geometry is created in ANSYS Design Modeler and meshed in ANSYS Meshing with a structured grid of 23,264 elements suited to acoustic simulation. A transient analysis is set up to capture the time-dependent acoustic behavior in the liquid, using a pressure-based solver for the incompressible flow, with the Wave Equation acoustic model activated for high-fidelity results. The setup supports extracting sound-pressure levels across a broad frequency range — up to 100,000 Hz — and exporting the acoustic source data in ASD format for further analysis.AnalysisPost-processing focuses on the sound-pressure levels in the liquid environment, interpreted in the frequency domain to understand how sound energy is distributed across a wide spectrum. The results reveal the high-frequency acoustic behavior up to 100,000 Hz, help identify the critical frequency ranges for engineering applications, and allow the acoustic behavior in water to be compared with that in air — highlighting the unique challenges of hydroacoustic simulation. This kind of analysis is central to naval engineering and underwater acoustics, hydraulic system design, oceanographic research, and industrial noise reduction. By the end of this project, you'll be able to set up a transient acoustic simulation with the Wave Equation model, configure it for a liquid medium, extract and interpret sound-pressure levels across a broad frequency range, and apply the results to noise analysis in liquid-based engineering.

Ffowcs Williams & Hawkings (FW-H) Acoustic Model — ANSYS Fluent CFD SimulationDescriptionThis project explores the Ffowcs Williams & Hawkings (FW-H) acoustic model in ANSYS Fluent, one of the most powerful acoustic-simulation techniques available in modern CFD. The FW-H model is the standard method for predicting the far-field noise radiated by a flow — it takes the unsteady flow near a body and propagates the resulting sound out to distant receivers. This project applies it to a fundamental problem in aeroacoustics: the noise induced by airflow around a cylinder. Within the Acoustics: Beginner CFD Training Package, this project introduces the workhorse aeroacoustic method, building on the Wave Equation model toward the standard tool for far-field noise prediction used throughout the applied cases that follow.MethodologyThe optimized 2D geometry is created in ANSYS Design Modeler and meshed in ANSYS Meshing with a structured grid of 23,264 elements suited to acoustic simulation. A transient analysis is set up to capture the time-dependent acoustic behavior, using a pressure-based solver for the incompressible flow, with the Ffowcs Williams & Hawkings acoustic model implemented to predict the radiated sound. The setup supports extracting sound-pressure levels, analyzing A-weighted acoustic pressure, and performing Fourier transforms for frequency-domain analysis.AnalysisPost-processing focuses on the sound-pressure levels, interpreted in the frequency domain to understand how sound energy is distributed across frequencies. The A-weighted acoustic pressure is evaluated to tailor the data to human hearing perception and identify the critical frequency ranges for human-centric acoustic design, while the spatial distribution of acoustic pressure at varying distances from the source illustrates the principles of acoustic attenuation. This kind of analysis is essential across aerospace (aircraft noise reduction), automotive design (vehicle aeroacoustics), wind-turbine development, and environmental noise assessment. By the end of this project, you'll be able to set up a transient FW-H acoustic simulation, extract and interpret sound-pressure levels and A-weighted data, perform frequency-domain analysis, and evaluate how noise attenuates with distance from the source.

Broadband Noise Sources Acoustic Model — ANSYS Fluent CFD SimulationDescriptionThis project explores the Broadband Noise Sources acoustic model in ANSYS Fluent, a valuable technique for identifying where noise is generated in a flow. Unlike the transient FW-H and Wave Equation methods, the Broadband Noise Sources model gives a quick, steady picture of the acoustic source distribution — a low-cost way to locate the regions responsible for noise before committing to a full transient simulation. This project applies it to a fundamental problem in aeroacoustics: the noise induced by airflow around a cylinder. Within the Acoustics: Beginner CFD Training Package, this project completes the trio of core acoustic models, adding the source-identification method to the propagation-based Wave Equation and FW-H models taught before it.MethodologyThe optimized 2D geometry is created in ANSYS Design Modeler and meshed in ANSYS Meshing with a structured grid of 23,264 elements suited to acoustic simulation. The analysis uses a pressure-based solver for the incompressible flow, with the Broadband Noise Sources model implemented for a comprehensive picture of the acoustic sources. The setup supports extracting acoustic power-level contours and analyzing the LEE-Self noise and LEE Shear-noise source distributions, as well as comparing the noise generation with and without the cylinder obstruction.AnalysisPost-processing focuses on the acoustic power-level contours, interpreted to understand the relationship between acoustic pressure and decibel levels and to locate the critical areas of noise generation around the cylinder. The model distinguishes between the LEE-Self noise and LEE Shear-noise sources, clarifying the mechanisms responsible for the noise, and comparing the cases with and without the cylinder reveals the impact of a flow obstruction on noise generation. This kind of analysis is essential across aerospace, automotive design, wind-turbine development, and HVAC optimization. By the end of this project, you'll be able to set up a Broadband Noise Sources simulation, extract and interpret acoustic power-level contours, distinguish between noise-source types, and identify where noise originates in a flow — a fast, practical basis for noise-reduction design.

Plate Silencer and Sound Absorption — ANSYS Fluent CFD SimulationDescriptionThis project presents a CFD simulation of a plate silencer — a device used to absorb unwanted noise across industries from automotive and power generation to mining, subway tunnels, and architectural acoustics. A silencer works by vibrating in response to incoming sound waves; when the silencer's mode shapes match the sound waves, the energy is absorbed, quieting the environment. In this project, you'll model a symmetric silencer with a sinusoidal wavy plate at its center and study how acoustic waves behave as they travel through it, quantifying the silencer's noise-reduction efficiency. Within the Acoustics: Beginner CFD Training Package, this project applies the FW-H model taught earlier to a real noise-control device, opening the applied silencer and sound-absorption cases.MethodologyThe 2D symmetric silencer geometry, with a wavy central plate of 0.015 m wave amplitude, is designed in Design Modeler and meshed with a structured grid of roughly 17,000 elements for the acoustic domain. The Ffowcs-Williams & Hawkings (FW-H) acoustic model is set up, defining the far-field density (1.225 kg/m³), sound speed (340 m/s), and reference acoustic pressure (2×10⁻⁵ Pa), with acoustic sources defined near the inlet to introduce the pressure waves. The simulation must be transient to capture the wave behavior over time. The boundary conditions include a velocity inlet, a pressure outlet, and convective walls with a heat-transfer coefficient, and the setup uses the Realizable k-ε model with enhanced wall treatment and the energy equation.AnalysisPost-processing produces pressure, velocity, and temperature contours, along with Sound Pressure Level (dB) versus frequency at inlet and outlet receivers and — most importantly — the Transmission Loss diagram, which quantifies how much sound the silencer removes across the frequency range. From these results you can evaluate the silencer's noise-reduction efficiency and understand how the wavy plate absorbs acoustic energy. Noise control is a regulated requirement across the automotive, HVAC, power, and building industries, and the FW-H acoustic workflow built here is the foundation for designing mufflers, exhaust systems, and any noise-attenuating device. By the end of this project, you'll be able to set up a transient FW-H acoustic simulation of a silencer, define acoustic sources and receivers, and interpret the sound-pressure and transmission-loss results that measure noise-reduction performance.

DescriptionThe use of porous media inside tubular structures has become a key strategy for sound absorption. This technique takes advantage of the inherent properties of porous materials to dissipate sound energy, thereby reducing noise pollution and improving the acoustic environment within the tube.In this project, we simulate the phenomenon of sound absorption inside a pipe, where a porous medium serves as a silencer. The primary aim is to measure two key parameters across a wide range of frequencies:Transmission Loss (TL) — the reduction in sound power as sound travels through the pipe filled with the porous medium. It is a critical quantity in many engineering applications where noise reduction is required.Sound Pressure Level (SPL) — the pressure deviation from ambient atmospheric pressure produced by a sound wave. Here, the interest lies in understanding how the SPL varies over a broad frequency range as sound propagates through the porous medium inside the pipe.The geometry was created in ANSYS SpaceClaim, and the computational domain was then divided into separate cell zones in ANSYS Meshing, generating 1,209,174 polyhedral cells.MethodologyTo achieve this, the Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings (FW-H) acoustic model was employed. This model is well regarded for its ability to accurately predict the acoustic behavior of a system, making it a suitable choice for the present simulation. The study aims to build a deeper understanding of how sound behaves under these conditions — insight with significant relevance to fields such as acoustical engineering and environmental noise control.The inlet and outlet are placed 200 mm and 500 mm from the silencer, respectively. Air enters the tube at a velocity of 5 m/s. The flow equations are first solved in steady-state form; the acoustic equations are then introduced and the solution continued in an unsteady (transient) manner.ConclusionAs the air enters the pipe, it must pass through the porous medium, which produces a marked pressure drop owing to the complex internal structure of the porous material. A stagnation point forms on the porous wall, and the velocity increases sharply in accordance with Bernoulli's equation. Both effects are visible in the figures below.From an acoustic standpoint, a comparable behavior is observed. To fulfill the study's objectives, three receivers were positioned within the domain: one placed 100 mm before the porous medium, and the other two placed 200 mm and 400 mm downstream of the porous silencer. When interpreting the results, note that the reference acoustic pressure is set to 2 × 10⁻⁵ Pa, so all reported values are relative to this reference level.

Air Compressor Acoustics Analysis in ANSYS FluentIntroductionThis project investigates the aeroacoustics and noise generation mechanisms of airflow within a four-row multistage axial flow compressor using ANSYS Fluent. As engine manufacturers continue to prioritize noise reduction as a key design objective, understanding the acoustic contribution of individual engine components has become an essential first step toward developing effective noise mitigation strategies. This simulation focuses specifically on quantifying and visualizing the sound power generated by the rotor and stator stages of a compressor assembly, building on prior turbomachinery flow analysis of the same geometry.Geometry and MeshThe three-dimensional compressor geometry was constructed in Design Modeler, comprising two rotor rows and two stator rows, with each row containing 22 airfoil-section blades. The rotor blades feature aerodynamic deflection, while the stator blades remain horizontal without deflection. Taking advantage of the geometry's rotational symmetry, only a single blade passage from each rotor and stator row was modeled, with periodic boundary conditions applied to the lateral surfaces to represent the full annular assembly while substantially reducing computational cost. The domain was discretized in ANSYS Meshing using an unstructured mesh totaling 972,354 elements, providing adequate resolution for capturing the flow and acoustic phenomena around the blade rows.MethodologyThe acoustic analysis was performed using the Broadband Noise Sources model within Fluent, applied on top of the underlying turbomachinery flow solution obtained with periodic boundary conditions. Reference acoustic properties were defined consistent with standard air conditions: a density of 1.225 kg/m³, a sound speed of 340 m/s, and a reference acoustic power of 1×10⁻¹² W, forming the basis for computing acoustic power level contours throughout the domain.Results and ConclusionResults indicate that the rotor rows are the dominant source of noise generation within the compressor stage, exhibiting substantially higher acoustic power levels in the corresponding contour plots compared to the stator rows. Contours of the linearized Euler equations further illustrate how sound waves propagate through the gap region between successive rotor and stator rows, offering insight into the spatial distribution and directivity of noise transmission within the multistage compressor.

DescriptionThis project focuses on the acoustic analysis of a six-bladed fan using ANSYS Fluent. The main objective is to study the airflow behavior and noise generation around the fan under specific operating conditions. The simulation aims to predict the broadband noise levels and to examine the distribution of the pressure and velocity fields, in order to understand the fan's combined aerodynamic and acoustic performance. This analysis helps identify the regions chiefly responsible for high noise generation and can be used to improve fan design for greater efficiency and reduced noise.Geometry & MeshThe fan geometry was created in ANSYS Design Modeler and consists of three zones representing the flow domain and the fan structure. The model features six blades attached to a central hub within a cylindrical enclosure. The geometry was imported into ANSYS Meshing, where a non-conformal, unstructured mesh was generated. A fine tetrahedral mesh was used to capture the complex flow features around the blades, resulting in approximately 3 million elements. The mesh quality was carefully checked to ensure accurate flow and acoustic predictions while maintaining computational efficiency.MethodologyThe simulation was performed in ANSYS Fluent using a pressure-based, steady-state solver. Turbulence was modeled with the standard k–ε model together with standard wall functions to account for near-wall behavior. The fan rotation was represented using the Multiple Reference Frame (MRF) approach at a rotational speed of 3000 RPM, and pressure inlet and pressure outlet boundary conditions were applied at the corresponding surfaces. The coupled algorithm handled the pressure-velocity coupling, and hybrid initialization was used to aid convergence. For the acoustic analysis, the Broadband Noise Sources model was employed to estimate the noise generated from the turbulent fluctuations in the flow.ConclusionThe results include contours of pressure, velocity, and acoustic power level across the fan domain. The pressure contours show higher-pressure regions near the leading edges of the blades and lower-pressure zones at the trailing edges, reflecting the lift effect produced by the rotation. The velocity contours reveal the maximum airspeed near the blade tips, demonstrating the strong tangential flow driven by the rotation. The acoustic power level plots indicate that the highest noise is concentrated around the blade tips and the outer casing, where the turbulent interactions and velocity gradients are most intense.Overall, the simulation successfully captures both the aerodynamic and acoustic behavior of the fan under steady operating conditions, showing how a broadband-noise acoustic model combined with the MRF approach can locate the dominant noise sources on a rotating fan and inform quieter, more efficient designs.

DescriptionThis project uses ANSYS Fluent to simulate aeroacoustic sound generation around a NACA0012 airfoil, a key application of the acoustic module in aerospace engineering. Sound waves generated by aerospace components like airfoils are a significant concern in aircraft noise and acoustic design. This study examines how acoustic behavior changes across three angles of attack — 0°, 7°, and 14° — as airflow at 68 m/s passes over the airfoil.MethodologyThe 2D geometry is built in DesignModeler, with the NACA0012 airfoil coordinates imported as a point cloud from Airfoil Tools. The airfoil has a 1 m chord length and sits within a computational domain measuring 400 m × 200 m. The domain is meshed in ANSYS Meshing using a structured grid of 231,840 elements. The Broadband Noise Sources model is used to define the acoustic behavior, with reference values set to standard air density (1.225 kg/m³), speed of sound (340 m/s), and reference acoustic power (1e-12 Pa).ConclusionResults include 2D pressure and velocity contours, along with velocity and acoustic power level plots across all three angles of attack, tracking sound pressure from a few meters upstream of the airfoil, along its surface, and downstream. The sound wave is shown to originate after airflow impinges on the airfoil body. At zero angle of attack, sound propagates further downstream, while higher angles of attack concentrate the sound amplitude closer to the airfoil, indicating a more limited propagation distance.

DescriptionThis project simulates aeroacoustic noise generation around an Audi car body, comparing configurations with and without a rear spoiler, using ANSYS Fluent. Aeroacoustics studies how sound arises from turbulent fluid motion and from aerodynamic forces striking surfaces; turbulent flow carries oscillating pressure and density gradients, and it's these oscillations, propagating as pressure waves, that constitute the generated sound. The subject matters well beyond automotive design, since the same mechanisms govern the very high noise levels produced around aerospace surfaces like airfoils. The car geometries, both with and without spoiler, are built in three dimensions in Design Modeler and meshed in ICEM, with airflow directed at the body at 70 m/s.MethodologyTurbulence is resolved with the SST k-omega model, and the acoustic field is predicted using Fluent's Broadband Noise Sources model, which derives sound generation from the statistics of the turbulent flow rather than resolving acoustic waves directly. The acoustic setup uses standard air properties as reference: a density of 1.225 kg/m³, a sound speed of 340 m/s, and a reference acoustic power of 1×10⁻¹² Pa. Both the spoiler and no-spoiler configurations are run under identical inflow conditions so the two cases can be compared directly.AnalysisThe solution yields 2D pressure and velocity contours for both configurations, along with plots of velocity and acoustic power level along the car's longitudinal axis, sampled from a few meters upstream, across the car body, to a few meters downstream. These results show that adding the spoiler noticeably reduces the acoustic power generated by the airflow striking the body, from roughly 95 dB without the spoiler to about 70 dB with it. Interestingly, this trend reverses in the far wake behind the car, where the spoiler configuration actually shows higher acoustic power than the case without one, suggesting the spoiler suppresses near-body noise generation at the cost of somewhat more turbulent, noise-generating structure further downstream.

DescriptionThis project investigates noise generation from a ceiling fan in a room using ANSYS Fluent, comparing two distinct acoustic modeling approaches: the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings (FW-H) integral method and a method based directly on the wave equation. The room is a 3D square domain measuring 4 m × 3 m × 4 m, with the fan centered in the room at a height of 2.7 m. Two square openings serve as inlet and outlet, with wind entering at 3 m/s. The geometry is built in Design Modeler and meshed in ANSYS Meshing, with 720,783 cells for the FW-H case and 534,016 cells for the wave equation case; given the inherently time-dependent nature of noise generation, both cases are run transient.MethodologyIn the first configuration, the fan is set rotating at 240 rpm using the Mesh Motion method, and noise is predicted using the FW-H integral method, with several receiver points placed at different locations in the room to sample the resulting sound field. In the second configuration, the fan is held fixed while wind continues to blow through the room at 3 m/s, and the noise generated purely from the wind colliding with the stationary fan blades is captured instead through a method based on the wave equation, isolating that collision-driven noise mechanism from the rotational one modeled in the first case.AnalysisThe results include 2D and 3D contours and plots of room pressure, temperature, and velocity, along with sound pressure and amplitude plots at the defined receiver points, generated in CFD Post. Temperature and velocity fields are shown as 3D contours throughout the room, while acoustic quantities are reported both on the fan surfaces and throughout the surrounding room environment. Comparing the two methods highlights how the fan's rotation versus the wind's direct impact on a stationary fan each contribute to the overall noise generated, giving two complementary perspectives on the same acoustic problem.