Effect of Shear Layer Interaction on Acoustic Response of Coaxial Side Branch Resonators

Fully turbulent inflow past a coaxial side branch resonator mounted in a duct can give rise to pronounced flow oscillations due to coupling between separated shear layers and standing acoustic waves. Experimental investigation of acoustically-coupled shear layers is conducted using digital particle image velocimetry in conjunction with unsteady pressure measurements. Global instantaneous flow images, as well as phase-averaged images, are evaluated to provide insight into the flow physics during tone generation. The emphasis is on the effect of shear layer interaction on the acoustic response of the resonator during the first and second hydrodynamic modes of the shear layer oscillation. Onset of the locked-on resonant states is characterized in terms of the acoustic pressure amplitudes and the quality factors of the corresponding spectral peaks. Moreover, patterns of generated acoustic power are calculated using a semi-empirical approach. As the level of interaction between the separated shear layers is increased, spatial structure of the acoustic source undergoes a substantial transformation.