Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Flow-Acoustic Resonance of Side-by-Side Cylinders in a Duct

The phenomenon of flow-excited acoustic resonance is a design concern in many engineering applications, especially when wakes of bluff bodies are encountered in ducts, piping systems, heat exchangers, and other confined systems. In this article, the case of self-excited acoustic resonance of two side-by-side cylinders in a duct with cross-flow is investigated both numerically and experimentally. A single spacing ratio between the cylinders, T/D = 2.5, is investigated, where D is the diameter of the cylinders and T is the center-to-center distance between them. The numerical investigation is performed using a finite-volume method at a Reynolds number of 30,000 to simulate the unsteady flow field, which is then coupled with a finite element simulation of the resonant sound field. The experimental investigation is performed using phase-locked Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) during the occurrence of flow-excited acoustic resonance. The results of both methods reveal that the flow-excited acoustic resonance produces a strong oscillatory flow pattern in the cylinder wakes with strong in-phase vortex shedding being synchronized by the excited acoustic resonance. The distribution and strength of the aeroacoustic sources and sinks within the flow field have been computed by means of Howe’s theory of aerodynamic sound for both the experimental and numerical cases, with the results of the two methods comparing favorably, showing similar trends in the oscillating flow fields, and very similar trends in the distribution of net acoustic power.