Tandem cylinder aerodynamic sound control using porous coating

This study is concerned with the application of porous coatings as a passive flow control method for reducing the aerodynamic sound from tandem cylinders. The aim here is to perform a parametric proof-of-concept study to investigate the effectiveness of porous treatment on bare tandem cylinders to control and regularize the vortex shedding and flow within the gap region between the two bluff bodies, and thereby control the aerodynamic sound generation mechanism. The aerodynamic simulations are performed using 2D transient RANS approach with k−ωk−ω turbulence model, and the acoustic computations are carried out using the standard Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings (FW–H) acoustic analogy. Numerical flow and acoustic results are presented for bare tandem cylinders and porous-covered cylinders, with different porosities and thicknesses. Experimental flow and acoustic data are also provided for comparison. Results show that the proper use of porous coatings can lead to stabilization of the vortex shedding within the gap region, reduction of the vortex shedding interaction with the downstream body, and therefore the generation of tonal and broadband noise. It has also been observed that the magnitude and the frequency of the primary tone reduce significantly as a result of the flow regularization. The proposed passive flow-induced noise and vibration control method can potentially be used for other problems involving flow interaction with bluff bodies.