A Numerical Model of Plasma-Actuator Effects in Flow-Induced Noise Control

In this paper, a computational model was developed to model the potential of plasma actuators to reduce flow-induced noise. The model consisted of a viscous flow solver to compute the flow field and a Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings acoustic solver to predict the far-field noise radiation. A velocity-inlet boundary condition was used to model the induced velocity effect of plasma actuators applied to the surface of a bluff body. A test case of the noise radiation from a cylinder in fluid flow was used to validate the model. A comparison between the numerical results and previous experimental results was made. The results confirmed the noise-reduction potential of plasma actuators for bluff-body noise control. Good agreement was made between the numerical and experimental results. It was concluded that the model could be a useful tool to predict the effect of plasma actuation applied to aerodynamic, acoustic, and optimization problems.