Airfoil Sound Generation: 3 Different Attack Angles

Description

This 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.

Methodology

The 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).

Conclusion

Results 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.