Experimental study of wall pressure fluctuations in rigid and elastic pipes behind an axisymmetric narrowing

Wall pressure fluctuations, pt, in rigid and elastic pipes behind a local axisymmetric narrowing are studied. A sharp increase in their rms level in a finite region immediately downstream of the narrowing, leading up to a pronounced maximum upstream of the point of jet reattachment, is found. Approximate estimates both for the distance from the narrowing to the point of maximum rms pressure and for the rms magnitude at this point are obtained. Inspection of the wall pressure power spectrum, P, reveals the presence of low-frequency maxima. The maxima are found to be associated with the large-scale eddies in the regions of separated and reattached flow, and their frequencies are close to the characteristic frequencies of the eddies’ formation. These maxima are the main distinguishing features of the spectrum under investigation compared to the power spectrum of the wall pressure fluctuations in a fully-developed turbulent flow in a pipe without narrowing. A comparative analysis of the data for rigid and elastic pipes shows that changes in the pipe wall bending stiffness cause alterations in the flow structure near the wall and the corresponding redistribution of flow energy among the vortices. This results in an increase in the wall pressure amplitude and the low-frequency level of the wall pressure power spectrum, as well as the appearance of new frequency components in this domain.