Flow-excited resonance of trapped modes of ducted shallow cavities

The self-excitation mechanism of the acoustic diametral modes of an axisymmetric internal cavity–duct system is studied for a Mach number range up to 0.4. The effect of cavity dimensions on the excitation mechanism is investigated experimentally and numerically. Experiments are conducted on three cavity depths and six cavity lengths for each depth. Numerical simulations of the mode shapes are also performed to determine the effect of cavity dimensions on the particle velocity field of the diametral modes. For all the tested configurations, the diametral modes are strongly excited at relatively low Mach numbers (as low as 0.1). The pulsation amplitude at resonance is found to increase as the cavity becomes shorter or deeper, relative to the main pipe diameter. The test results provide new insights into the excitation mechanism of diametral modes, the effect of the cavity length to depth ratio on the Strouhal numbers of acoustic resonances caused by various shear-layer modes of the cavity, and into the effect of the particle velocity field of the acoustic modes on the mode selectivity mechanism which determines the dominant acoustic mode during resonance.