The broadband noise generated by the scattering of turbulent flow at the trailing edge of a NACA 0018 airfoil with trailing edge serrations is investigated, varying both the airfoil angle of attack and serration flap angle. Acoustic emissions from the trailing edge are measured using a microphone array. The noise level is observed to be higher than that of the airfoil without serrations at frequencies beyond a crossover value. The latter is found to scale with a characteristic Strouhal number based upon the boundary layer thickness and the freestream velocity. A satisfactory collapse of the results under varying angles of attack and freestream velocities is observed. The modifications of the hydrodynamic behavior and the noise increase are linked by high-speed observations conducted with particle image velocimetry. An increase in the energy of turbulent fluctuations is also observed at the expected crossover frequency. The dominant cause of the increased noise is thereby identified at the pressure side edge of the serrations at a given flap angle.

@en

Trailing edge serrations have been proven to work as a passive noise reduction device. Nevertheless, they have also previously been found to increase noise in a particular frequency range, argued in earlier research to be due to the misalignment of the serrations with the direction of the flow in the wake. It emerges as a high-frequency noise increase in a broadband region of the spectrum. This study investigates the effect of serration-flow misalignment on the noise emissions using acoustic beamforming, and finds a correlation with observations made on the flow using particle image velocimetry (PIV). The hydrodynamic source of the noise increase is hereby identified, and a Strouhal number relation for the high-frequency noise increase is proposed@en

The flow past a NACA 0018 airfoil with sawtooth trailing edge serrations has been investigated using stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (PIV). The serration flap angle and airfoil incidence are varied in order to study the effect of secondary flow establishing between the suction and pressure sides of the serrations. The flow topology around the serrations is inferred from the analysis of time-averaged streamlines close to the airfoil surface and from the wall-normal flow velocity in between serrations. Additional PIV measurements with a plane in cross-flow highlight the formation of streamwise vortex pairs. The flow behavior is further characterized in terms of its turbulence statistics. Noise emissions are measured with an acoustic phased array in combination with beamforming. The serrations are found to be effective in reducing noise, and their application is studied for different degrees of airfoil incidence and serration flap angle.@en