NAA-86-1866

On the Screech Tones of Supersonic

Rectangular Jets
C.K.W. Tam, Florida State Univ.,
Tallahassee, FL

AlAA 10th Aeroacoustics Conference

July 9-11, 1986/Seattle, Washington
For permission to copy or republish, contact the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
1633 Broadway, New York, NY 100'19
 ON THE SCREECH TONES OF SUPERSONIC RECTANGULAR JETS
Christopher K.W. Tam*
Department of Mathematics
Florida S t a t e University
Tallahassee, Florida 32306-3027
A4

Abstract
The shock c e l l s t r u c t u r e s and screech tone l i p region. As these disturbances passed through
frequencies of non-axisymnetric supersonic j e t s t h e t h i r d o r fourth shock c e l l strong interaction
from convergent-divergent nozzles operating a t w i t h t h e oblique shocks took place r e s u l t i n g i n
off-design conditions are investigated. For t h e t h e emission of intense acoustic waves. Part of
purpose of providing a simple y e t f a i r l y accurate t h e acoustic waves propagated upstream outside t h e
f i r s t order estimate of the gross features of j e t flow. Upon reaching the nozzle l i p these
these shock s t r u c t u r e s and screech tone frequen- acoustic waves triggered t h e generation of down-
c i e s , a l i n e a r shock c e l l model i s developed. In stream propagating flow disturbances and t h u s
t h e node1 t h e mixing layer of the j e t i s approxi- completed t h e feedback loop.
mated by a vortex sheet. I t i s shown t h a t the In addition t o being a key f a c t o r i n t h e
model problem f o r a j e t w i t h a r b i t r a r y cross- production of d i s c r e t e frequency screech tones
sectional geometry can be solved by eigenfunction t h e quasi-periodic shock c e l l s t r u c t u r e i s also
expansion. In t h i s paper the associated eigen- responsible f o r t h e generation of broadband noise.
value problems f o r rectangular and e l l i p t i c a l j e t s This component of supersonic j e t noise i s gen-
a r e solved and e x p l i c i t shock c e l l s t r u c t u r e e r a l l y known as broadband shock associated noise.
solutions f o r these j e t s are found. To t e s t t h e Harper-Bourne and Fishers appear t o be t h e f i r s t
v a l i d i t y of t h e model t h e theoretical shock c e l l t o identify t h i s noise component experimentally.
spacings a r e compared with t h e experimental Since the work of Harper-Bourne and Fisher great
measurements of Powell' and Hamitt' . Good progress has been made i n the understanding and
agreements a r e obtained over a wide range of Mach prediction of the i n t e n s i t y , spectrum and direc-
numbers. The shock c e l l spacing formula is then t i v i t y of broadband shock associated noise ( s e e
used t o compute the screech tone frequencies Of e.g. Tanna', Seiner and Norum'o,'' , Seiner and
rectangular j e t s by incorporating i t i n t o t h e Y U ' ~ , Tam and Tanna", Norum and Seiner".", and
weakest link theory of Tam, Seiner and Yu' . The Tam, Seiner and Yu'. In the mixing layer of super-
calculated tone frequencies a r e found t o agree sonic j e t s , i t i s known t h a t t h e turbulent mixing
favorably w i t h t h e measurements of Powell' and process i s controlled by t h e large s c a l e t u r b u -
Krothapalli e t a l s over t h e Mach number range Of lence structures. These large turbulence s t r u c -
1.15 t o 1.80. The present theory i s Simple but t u r e s are convected downstream by t h e mean flow of
admittedly crude. I f a more accurate description t h e j e t . According t o Tam and Tanna broadband
of t h e shock c e l l s t r u c t u r e s of ilOn-aXiSYmnetriC shock associated noise i s generated by t h e weak
supersonic j e t s i s desired a multiple-scales model interaction between these large scale turbulence
following t h e recent work of Tam, Jackson and s t r u c t u r e s and t h e quasi-periodic shock c e l l
Seiner' may be constructed. In t h i s case the system during t h e passage of the former through
present vortex sheet model solution could be used t h e l a t t e r . Recently a stochastic model theory of
a s t h e s t a r t i n g solution ( a t t h e nozzle exit) Of broadband shock associated noise has been
such a multiple-scales expansion. A t t h e nozzle developed by Tam'6 based on this noise generation
e x i t region t h e m i x i n g layer of t h e j e t i S usually mechanism. The stochastic model theory i s capable
fairly thin. of oredictina t h e near and f a r f i e l d noise f o r
a x i i y m e t r i c -supersonic jets f o r which t h e shock
1. Introduction c e l l s t r u c t u r e can be calculated r e l a t i v e l y e a s i l y .
Good agreements between calculated and measured
Recently t h e r e i s a renewed i n t e r e s t i n the noise spectra, i n t e n s i t y and d i r e c t i v i t y were
flow c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s and noise of rectangular and found i n t h e near a s well a s the f a r acoustic
non-circul ar supersonic j e t s . These j e t s are field. A t the present time the theory is not
being considered f o r potential applications i n t h e capable of predicting t h e noise of rectangular o r
propulsive systems of V/STOL and supersonic non-axisymnetric j e t s mainly because there i s
a i r c r a f t s . Powell I,*,' and Harmnitt2 were the no simple way of determining t h e shock c e l l
f i r s t investigators t o study t h e noise and shock s t r u c t u r e s of these jets.
c e l l s t r u c t u r e s of these jets. In these early
studies rectangular choked j e t s were used. I t was I n t e r e s t s i n t h e development of a simple
found that t h e noise of these j e t s were dominated analytical model of t h e shock c e l l s t r u c t u r e of
by tones of d i s c r e t e frequencies. These tones a r e an imperfectly expanded axisymnetric supersonic
now generally referred t o a s screech tones. Powell j e t began w i t h t h e work of Prandtl" . Prandtl
investigated t h e flow and t h e adjacent acoustic modelled t h e j e t a s a column of gas bounded by a
f i e l d s of screeching j e t s optically. Based on t h e vortex sheet. He found a f i r s t term solution t o
r e s u l t s of his observations he was able t o con- t h e problem and used i t t.0 estimate t h e shock c e l l
clude t h a t t h e screech tones were generated by spacing. Later Pack" provided a complete
feedback loops. According t o Powell the feedback solution t o this vortex sheet shock c e l l model
loop of each tone c o n s i s t s of downstream propa- problem. Subsequently a number of investigators
gating flow disturbances i n i t i a t e d a t the nozzle { e . ? . Adamson and Nicholls "I and Love") used
inviscid flow models and t h e method of character-
i s t i c s t o determine t h e s t r u c t u r a l d e t a i l s of t h e
'rprofessor, Member AIM shock c e l l s close t o t h e nozzle e x i t . No attempt,

1
however, had been made by these investigators to on axisymetric jets. The second objective is to
extend their studies beyond the first two to three use the shock cell spacing provided by the vortex
shock cells. Recently, prompted by the shock sheet model to estimate the screech tone fre-
cell noise problem efforts were made to calculate quencies of rectangular supersonic jets. In the
the shock cell structure numerically. Salas'' and past, several investigators have measured the
Dash and Thorpe" developed inviscid Euler codes frequencies of these screech tones at different
for this purpose. These codes were found later fully expanded jet Mach number. Comparisons of k.
not to be satisfactory when compared with experi- the measured and calculated values will ,therefore,
mental measurements (see Seiner and Norum'','' ). afford a means of testing the validity of the
The model was improved by Dash,Wolf and Seinerza gross predictions of the vortex sheet shock cell
and Seiner, Dash and Wolf2* by adding eddy viscos- model of these jets.
ity terms in the equations of motion. The predic-
tions of the improved model were found to agree In section 2 of this paper shock cell solu-
well with measurements for axisymetric jets. tions of rectangular and elliptical jets bounded
by vortex sheets will be developed. Analytical
Physically, the shock cell structure of an expressions for the shock cell spacing will be
imperfectly expanded supersonic jet is formed by presented. Comparisons of the calculated shock
oblique shocks and expansion fans generated at the cell spacings for rectangular jets with experimen-
nozzle lip region where there is a mismatch of the tal measurements are made. Very favorable agree-
static pressure inside and outside the jet. The ments are found. In section 3 the screech
reason that the shock cell are quasi-periodic is frequencies of rectangular supersonic jets are
because when the oblioue shocks or exDansion fans discussed and a simple formula for its prediction
impinge on the jet boundary they are reflected i s established. The theoretical frequencies are
back into the jet. In a sense the shocks and compared with three sets of experimental measure-
expansion fans are trapped inside the jet plume ments. Very good overall agreements are obtained
bouncing from one side to the other forming a thus providing confidence in the simple analytical
standing wave pattern. Another way of stating model developed in this paper.
this is that the jet plume forms a waveguide for
the shocks and expansion fans. The waveguide idea 2. Vortex Sheet Shock Cell Model
was exploited by Tam, Jackson and Seiner' in
developing a multiple-scales model of the shock 2.1 Formulation
cell structures of slightly imperfectly expanded
jets. They showed that the mean flow of a super- For supersonic jets from convergent-divergent
sonic jet can support a family of time independent nozzles operating at a slightly off-design condi-
eigensolutions or waveguide modes which is tion the weak shock cell structure in the jet
spatially periodic i n the flow direction. For plume, to a first approximation, may be regarded
slowly divergent jets these modes can be calcu- as linear perturbations on the fully expanded
lated by a multiple-scales expansion. Tam, condition of the jet. Such a linear model was
Jackson and Seiner chose to represent the quasi- first proposed by Prandtl". Consider a shock cell
periodic shock cell structure of the jet by a system of this kind in a jet column bounded by a \ae,,
linear superposition of these waveguide modes. The vortex sheet as shown in figure 1. For conven-
amp1 i tudes of these waveguide modes are determined ience, a Cartesian coordinate system centered at
by requiring that at the nozzle exit they are the nozzle exit with the x-axis pointing in the
equal to that of the corresponding modes of a direction of the jet flow will be used. It will
vortex sheet jet. By comparing their calculated be assumed that the surface of the vortex sheet
results with the measurements of Norum and Seiner'$ bounding the fully expanded jet is given by
Tam, Jackson and Seiner were able to show that the S0(Y,Z) = 0 (2.1)
multiple-scales model can predict not only the
gross features of the shock cell structure but Outside the jet, there is no disturbance. That
also the observed fine structures in the first two is, the shock cell structure is confined to the
to three shock cells downstream of the nozzle interior o f the vortex sheet. Inside the jet the
exit. linearized equations of motion are:
There are two main obiectives in the oresent
investigation. The first ;objective is to hevelop
a simple model of the shock cell structures of
rectanaular and elliptical jets. Currently there
is nomodel or theory (be it analytical or-numer-
ical) for these non-axisymetric jets. For these
purposes a vortex sheet model of these jets, in
the same spirit as Prandtl I ' and Pack l a , will be where p . , u. and a. are the density, velocity and
used. The vortex sheet model, although admittedly J J J
is quite crude, can provide a first estimate of the the speed of sound of the fully expanded jet. P ,
shock cell strength and spacing. Also in the case p and t are the density, pressure and velocity
of rectangular jets it can provide a sufficiently associated with the shock cell structure. Upon
accurate quantitative evaluation of the dependence
of the shock cell spacings on the aspect ratio of eliminating P and from equation (2.2) to (2.4),
these jets. If a more realistic mean flow of it is straightforward to find that the pressure p
these non-axisymnetric jets is known. This vortex satisfies the equation
sheet model solution may be used as a starting 2 2
condition (at the nozzle exit) in the construction V p - M? a p = 0 (2.5)
of a more accurate multiple-scales shock cell
model as in the work of Tam, Jackson and Seiner'
J7 b&

2
 where M . = u./a. i s t h e f u l l y expanded j e t Mach 2 + (Mz-l)k2m
vLm 0
1
E
J J J J
number. (2.14)
A t t h e vortex sheet the disturbances associ-
ated w i t h t h e shock c e l l system must s a t i s f y a
dynamic and a kinematic boundary condition. In
m = 0 on So(y.z) = 0
I
Let knm (n,m=0,1,2,3 ...I be t h e eigenvalues
t h e linearized form t h e dynamic boundary condition and mnm(y,z) be t h e corresponding eigenfunctions
of continuity of pressure y i e l d s ,
then i t is easy t o show (see e.g. HabermanZ5 chapter
p = 0 a t So(y,z) = 0 (2.6) 6) t h a t
Let t h e perturbed vortex sheet surface be given by (i) t h e eigenvalues knm a r e r e a l
(2.7) ( i i ) the eigenfunctions form a complete set
S0(Y,Z) + Sl(X,Y.Z) = 0 ( i i i ) eigenfunctions belonging t o d i f f e r e n t eigen-
To l i n e a r order the kinemetic boundary condition values a r e orthogonal i . e .
i.
c

u.
as1
- +
f
-
v 'So = 0 a t So(y,z) = 0 (2.8)
jjmnm$ijdydz = 0 , unless n=i and m = j
J ax 6 (2.15)
Equation (2.8) may be regarded as an equation f o r where 6 i s t h e domain bounded by So(y,z) = 0.
t h e determination of t h e displacement function
Sl(x,y,z). Because of t h i s , t h i s equation need On assuming t h a t mnm are found then p(x,y,z)
not be considered f u r t h e r unless the value of may be represented by an expansion in these eigen-
Sl(x,y,z) is desired. functions i n t h e form
In addition t o boundary condition (2.6) t h e
solution of the shock c e l l s t r u c t u r e must also
s a t i s f y appropriate i n i t i a l conditions a t t h e
nozzle e x i t x=O. For t h i s purpose, i t will be To find t h e unknown c o e f f i c i e n t s Anm i n i t i a l
assumed t h a t t h e pressure a t t h e nozzle e x i t , pe,
condition (2.9) a t x=O will be used. Thus
i s uniform across t h e e n t i r e cross-section and
d i f f e r s from t h e ambient value pa by an amount
Ap. Further, a t t h e nozzle e x i t t h e flow velocity (2.17)
will be regarded as parallel t o the x-axis. Thus
t h e appropriate i n i t i a l conditions a r e ,
By means o f the orthogonality property of (2.15)
x = 0 ; p = ~p i n s i d e So(y,z) = 0 (2.9) it i s easy t o f i n d
;ri
and f
ApIj mn,(y,z)dydz
v, = 0 (2.10)
i

where i s t h e velocity component perpendicular (2.18)

t o t h e x-axis. Equation (2.5) and conditions
(2.6), (2.9) and (2.10) form a boundary value
problem. A general solution of this boundary B
value problem will be constructed below.
(2.16) and (2.18) give the pressure associated
2.2 General solution w i t h t h e complete f i r s t order shock c e l l s t r u c t u r e
of t h e vortex sheet j e t . Let t h e smallest axial
A general solution of t h e vortex sheet shock wave number o r t h e smallest eigenvalue of (2.14)
c e l l boundary value problem outlined above can be be ksmallest. In terms of ksmallest the shock
found by t h e method of eigenfunction expansion. c e l l spacing, A , is given by
Let
A = 2n/k (2.19)
P ( X , Y , Z ) = m(y,z) cos kx (2.11) smallest
where k i s an as y e t unknown constant. Substitu- 2.3 Rectangularjets
t i o n of (2.11) i n t o (2.5) and (2.3) y i e l d s
2 t (M.-l)k2 2+ = 0
V,m (2.12) For a rectangular j e t with width b. and
J J
-
+v, = 1 (vA$) sin kx
0 .u.
(2.13)
height h . as shown i n f i g u r e 2 t h e eigenvalue
J
J J problem (2.14) can be e a s i l y solved by t h e method
of separation o f variables. The eigenfunctions
and eigenvalues a r e
where v, =
(5e*Y t
;z ^$ .
- e is the gradient in t h e
(2.20)
y-z plane. 0, given by (2.13) obviously s a t i s f i e s

Jp'
i n i t i a l condition (2.10). Now (2.12) and boundary
condition (2.6) form an eigenvalue problem w i t h k
a s t h e eigenvalue i . e . knm =
(n,m=1,2,3
[$+I ,... )
2 t
GkP
3
(2.21)

3
 --.- ---I_-

S u b s t i t u t i o n o f (2.20) i n t o (2.18) t h e c o e f f i - McLachlan" also

c i e n t s Anm a r e e a s i l y found. The pressure
.,.,, 2 2 2
associated w i t h t h e shock c e l l s t r u c t u r e i s g i v e n qnm = (Mj-l )knma / 4 (2.29)
by
The corresponding eigenvalues a r e given by t h e r o o t s k.
of
Cenm(uO,qnm) = 0 n=0,1,2 ,... (2.30)
nny . mnz cos knmx m=l,2,3, ...
sin sin (2.22)
The smallest r o o t i s qol. By (2.19) t h e shock c e l l

According t o (2.21) t h e s m a l l e s t eigenvalue spacing i s

i s kll. Thus by (2.19) t h e shock c e l l spacing,
A = n a ( MJ ? - l ) ' / / G (2.31
A , i s equal t o
. .
(2.23) The r o o t qol of (2.30) for elliptical jets
w i t h small and l a r g e e c c e n t r i c i t y can be worked

11+21
L JJ
out analytically.

(i) Case when LB LA

Now i f h . / b . < 4 t h e n (2.23) may be approximated
J J I n t h i s case ilo i s l a r g e and q i s small. On
by
A 2 4h .
2(M.-1) (2.24) f o l l o w i n g Morse and Feshbach", (chapter 11) i t i s
J J easy t o f i n d a s y m p t o t i c a l l y

which i s t h e shock c e l l spacing of a two dimen- 1 2.405 e (1+0.250 e ) (2.32)

s i o n a l j e t w i t h t h i c k n e s s hi. I n o t h e r words, t h e J G
J
.
shock c e l l s o f a r e c t a n g u l a r j e t w i t h aspect r a t i o a = L A e
g r e a t e r than f o u r may, t o a f i r s t approximation,
2 2 4
be considered t o be n e a r l y t h e same as t h a t of where e = [ l - L $ L A l .
Thus by (2.31) t h e shock
a two dimensional j e t .
c e l l spacing i s
2.4 Elliptical j e t Z ~ L ~ ( M J iT - ~ )
A - (2.33)
F o r a supersonic j e t w i t h e l l i p t i c a l cross- 2.40511 +0.25( 1- L i / L i ) $1
s e c t i o n i t i s advantageous t o use e l l i p t i c
b
c y l i n d e r coordinates ( il , 0,x) (see Morse and
FeshbachZ6 ) as shown i n f i g u r e 3. These c o o r d i - which i s approximately equal t o t h a t of a round j e t .
nates a r e r e l a t e d t o t h e Cartesian c o o r d i n a t e s by
(ii) Case when LB << LA
y = a cosh il cos e
z = a sinh u sin e (2.25) I n t h i s case no i s small and q i s l a r g e so
x = x
t h a t by s o l v i n g equation (2.26) f o r a and v o t o
L e t t h e major and minor axes o f t h e e l l i p t i c a l j e t t h i r d order i n LR/Lb one o b t a i n s
be LA and LB r e s p e c t i v e l y . I f t h e v o r t e x sheet
i s c h a r a c t e r i z e d by il = ilothen

L - a cash iloand LB = a s i n h ilo (2.26)

A -
For l a r g e q, McLachlan" (chapter 9) has provided
I n p r a c t i c a l s i t u a t i o n s LA and LB a r e g i v e n so t h e f o l l o w i n g asymptotic formula
sr CZn
t h a t on s o l v i n g (2.26) f o r a and uo one f i n d s
Ce (il,q)
0
- cos[Zd; sinhil-tan
-1
(tanhu/2)1
2
a = (LA - 2 t
LE) cash il

uo = tanh-'(LA/LB) (2.27) Thus by s e t t i n g t h e argument of t h e c o s i n e func-

t i o n equal t o d 2 and n o t i n g t h a t iloi s small t h e
I n terms o f e l l i p t i c c y l i n d e r coordinates t h e f i r s t r o o t o f (2.30) i s e a s i l y found
eigenvalues problem of (2.14) can again be solved - - 1
by t h e method of separation of v a r i a b l e s . The
e i g e n f u n c t i o n s which a r e symmetric w i t h respect t o
/qo1 = q v
+
(2.35)

t h e y and z axes a r e On s u b s t i t u t i n g (2.34) and (2.35) i n t o (2.31) t h e

shock c e l l spacing t o t h e lowest order i n LB/LA i s

4L (M2-1)?
where ceZm( e ,qnm) (n=0,1.2,. ..;m=l,2,3,. .. I are A = j (2.36)
t h e p e r i o d i c Mathieu f u n c t i o n s and CeZn(il,qnm) a r e 1 + -1 L8 b
t h e m o d i f i e d Mathieu f u n c t i o n s as d e f i n e d by n 5

4
 T h i s i s approximately equal t o t h a t of a rectan- and a similar expression f o r LB/Lb. In (2.43)
gular jet w i t h large aspect r a t i o . E(e) is the complete e l l i p t i c integral of t h e
2.5 The s i z e of f u l l y expanded j e t s second kind w i t h e c c e n t r i c i t y e = (l-Lb/La)
2 2 t .
Bd
Tam and Tanna" pointed out t h a t t h e effec- 2.6 Comparison w i t h experiment
t i v e s i z e of a f u l l y expanded j e t i s not t h e same
as t h a t a t t h e nozzle e x i t . T h i s difference i s a Powell' and Hamnitt2 c a r r i e d out extensive
function of j e t operating conditions and could measurements of t h e shock c e l l spacings of choked
sometimes be q u i t e s i g n i f i c a n t . To account f o r rectangular j e t s . However, the aspect r a t i o s of
t h e s i z e difference l e t Ad and A . be t h e cross- t h e i r j e t s were q u i t e large. Therefore, a s f a r a s
J shock c e l l spacing is concerned t h e j e t s a r e
sectional area of t h e j e t a t the nozzle e x i t and e f f e c t i v e l y two dimensional. From (2.23) and
t h a t of the f u l l y expanded j e t , Md and M . be t h e (2.42) f o r b > > h the shock c e l l spacing according
J
nozzle design Mach number and f u l l y expanded j e t t o t h e vortex sheet model is
Mach number respectively. From one dimensional
gas dynamics ( s e e e.g. Liepmann and Roshko") t h e
flow Mach number M i s related t o t h e area r a t i o by

For choked j e t s Md i s equal t o unity. Figure 5

where A* i s t h e area of t h e nozzle a t the t h r o a t shows t h e shock c e l l spacing computed by equation
and Y i s t h e r a t i o of specific heats. By applying (2.44) a s a function of t h e f u l l y expanded j e t
t h i s formula t o t h e nozzle e x i t and a t t h e f u l l y Mach number El.. Plotted on t h i s f i g u r e a l s o a r e
expanded j e t i t i s easy t o find A . and A,, a r e J
J t h e experimental measurements of Powell (b/h=5.83)
related by and Hamnitt (b/h=l2.751. A s can e a s i l y be seen
there i s good overall agreement between measured
and calculated r e s u l t s over t h e range 1.15M.4.7.
(2.381 J-
In t h e experiments the observations were concen-
t r a t e d on t h e shock c e l l s imnediately downstream
of the nozzle exit. I n t h i s region of t h e jet the
Suppose S i s t h e perimeter of t h e nozzle and mixing layer remains q u i t e t h i n so t h a t the vortex
bL i s t h e difference between t h e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c sheet model is expected t o be valid. T h i s is
length of the f u l l y expanded jet, L ., and t h a t of confirmed by the good agreements found i n f i g u r e 5.
J
t h e j e t a t t h e nozzle e x i t , Ld, then (see f i g u r e 4) I t is known, however, t h a t the shock c e l l spacing
decreases as t h e end of t h e potential core of t h e
S bL/2 A.
J
- Ad (2.39) j e t is approached. Here t h e thickness of the j e t
mixing layer is considerable. To be able t o
L. = L + AL (2.40) estimate the shock cell spacing i n t h i s region
J d correctly a n w e sophisticated model such a s t h e
multiple-scales model of Tam, Jackson and Seiner6
On combining (2.381 t o (2.401 i t is easy t o f i n d appears t o be necessary.
Y+l
3. Screech Tones of Rectangular J e t s
According t o Powell',',' t h e screech tones of
supersonic jets are generated by a feedback loop.
(2.41) Recent studies on t h e screech tone phenomenon tend
For a rectangular j e t w i t h dimensions h by b a t t o reconfirm t h i s crucial idea of feedback.
t h e nozzle e x i t (2.41) gives HDWever, a s t o what exactly c o n s t i t u t e s t h e inner
Dart Of t h e 1000. current understandina annearc -rr..
~ - t.o.
d i f f e r from Powell's original proposal. Yu and
SeinerlP i n t h e i r work on near f i e l d observations
of screech tones suggested t h a t this Dart of t h e
feedback loop was made up of l a r g e scale i n s t a -
b i l i t y waves of t h e j e t flow. Thus following
t h e i r suggestion t h e feedback loop c o n s i s t s , first
of a l l , the e x c i t a t i o n of l a r g e s c a l e i n s t a b i l i t y
and a similar expression f o r b./b. For an ellip- waves a t t h e nozzle l i p . Once excited, these
J
t i c a l j e t w i t h major and minor axes equal t o La i n s t a b i l i t y waves grow s p a t i a l l y i n the downstream
direction. At a distance of a few shock c e l l s
and Lb a t t h e nozzle e x i t (2.41) gives downstream of the nozzle exit t h e i n s t a b i l i t y
waves having acquired l a r g e enough amplitude
i n t e r a c t strongly w i t h t h e quasi-periodic shock
c e l l s t r u c t u r e i n t h e mixing layer of t h e jet.
T h i s unsteady interaction generates intense
acoustic radiation. A part of the sound waves
t r a v e l s upstream outside t h e jet. Upon reaching
t h e nozzle l i p where t h e jet is most receptive t o

5
external excitation t h e sound waves stimulate t h e VSl
t h i n and i n t r i n s i c a l l y unstable shear layer of t h e
j e t leading t o the generation of large scale
i n s t a b i l i t y waves and thus completes t h e feedback
loop.
i
In a most recent work Tam, Seiner and Yu’
presented experimental data and theoretical
arguments t o show t h a t t h e acoustic waves which
radiated t o t h e nozzle l i p region were confined t o (3.3)
a r e l a t i v e l y narrow frequency band i f they were
generated by t h e interaction between t h e l a r g e In deriving (3.31 t h e assumption t h a t uc = 0 . 7 ~ .
J
s c a l e i n s t a b i l i t y waves and t h e quasi-periodic has been employed. This assumption was found t o
shock c e l l s t r u c t u r e of a supersonic j e t . The be very s a t i s f a c t o r y i n t h e work of Tam, Seiner
band i s centered around frequency f given by
P
and Yu’ .I t is also consistent with t h e experi-
mental observation of Harper-Bourne and Fisher‘.
f = Uckl (3.1)
p 2 n ( I + u C /aJ The screech tone frequencies of rectangular
supersonic j e t s have been measured by Powell ’,
where k l i s t h e fundamental ( t h e smallest) wave Krothapalli e t a l s and others. Figure 6 shows a
comparison of t h e measured Strouhal numbers of t h e
number of t h e shock c e l l system. uc i s t h e screech tones and equation (3.3) over t h e f u l l y
convection o r phase velocity of t h e excited l a r g e expanded Mach number range of 1.15 t o 1.80. As
s c a l e i n s t a b i l i t y waves of t h e flow and a _ i s t h e can e a s i l y be seen t h e r e i s favorable agreement
throughout t h e above Mach number range. This good
ambient speed of sound. Based on t h i s experimen- agreement not only suggests t h a t t h e weakest link
t a l observation and theoretical reasoning they hypothesis of Tam, Seiner and Yu’ i s valid b u t
proposed a weakest l i n k hypothesis t o determine a l s o lends confidence t o the use of the l i n e a r
t h e screech tone frequency. The weakest link theory of section 2 for estimating t h e shock c e l l
i s referred t o t h e l i n k between t h e upstream spacings of rectangular j e t s .
propagating sound waves outside t h e j e t and t h e
generation of large scale i n s t a b i l i t y waves a t t h e
nozzle e x i t of t h e feedback loop. They argued
-
Sumnary
t h a t i f t h e feedback loop were t o maintain i t s e l f In t h i s paper t h e shock c e l l s t r u c t u r e s o f
t h e frequency of o s c i l l a t i o n o r the screech tone non-axisymnetric supersonic j e t s a r e being con-
frequency must f a l l within t h e narrow band sidered. Because of t h e geometrical complexities
centered a t f given by (3.1). For otherwise not involved t h e problem cannot be readily solved
P a n a l y t i c a l l y o r numerically. To provide a first
enough sound wave could reach t h e nozzle l i p t o
continue t o e x c i t e t h e large scale i n s t a b i l i t y order estimate of t h e gross f e a t u r e s of t h e shock b.,
waves which drive t h e e n t i r e feedback loop. Hence c e l l s t r u c t u r e a l i n e a r model i s developed. I n
t h e screech tone frequency would be given approx- t h i s model t h e j e t i s assumed t o be bounded by a
imately by equation (3.1). Tam, Seiner and Yu’ vortex sheet. For jets with a r b i t r a r y cross-
applied t h i s weakest link hypothesis t o axisym- section i t i s shown t h a t t h e vortex sheet model
metric supersonic j e t s and found excellent agree- leads t o an eigenvalue problem. In t h e case of
ment between t h e screech tone frequencies rectangular o r e l l i p t i c a l j e t s e x p l i c i t analytical
calculated by (3.1) and experiments. Now t h e same solutions a r e found. These solutions provide
reasoning must be a l s o applicable t o t h e screech simple formulas f o r estimating t h e shock c e l l
tone frequency of rectangular j e t s . By substi- spacings and other gross properties of these j e t s .
t u t i n g k l l from (2.21) i n t o (3.1) i t i s easy t o For rectangular j e t s t h e model solution implies
t h a t -the shock c e l l spacing is, f o r a l l intents
f i n d a f t e r making use of (2.42) t h e following and purposes, determined by t h e smaller dimension
screech tone frequency formula f o r rectangular of the j e t unless the aspect r a t i o i s l e s s than
jets. four. In other words, f o r rectangular j e t s with
aspect r a t i o greater than four t h e j e t s a r e
e s s e n t i a l l y two dimensional as f a r a s shock c e l l
spacing i s concerned. Up t o t h e present time
t h e r e i s no known experimental measurements on
j e t s with aspect r a t i o l e s s than four. Thus t h i s
aspect of t h e theoretical prediction cannot be
verified imnediately. For rectangular j e t s w i t h
l a r g e r aspect r a t i o s t h e calculated shock c e l l
spacings a t d i f f e r e n t f u l l y expanded j e t Mach
numbers a r e found t o agree well with t h e experi-
mental observations of Powell‘ and H a m i t t ’ . On
For cold jets w i t h l a r g e aspect r a t i o issued from following the weakest link hypothesis of Tam,
choked nozzles ( M =l.O), (3.2) s i m p l i f i e s t o Seiner and Yu’ a formula f o r the screech tone
d frequency of rectangular jets i s derived. Experi-
mental data on t h e screech tone frequencies of
cold jets from choked nozzles are available i n t h e
works of Powell’ and Krothapalli e t a l s . On
comparing t h e calculated and measured r e s u l t s ’;rv
favorable agreements a r e found over a wide range
of j e t Mach numbers. These favorable agreements

6
 indicate t h a t although t h e vortex sheet shock c e l l 14. Norurn, T.D. and Seiner, J.M., "Broadband
model is somewhat crude y e t i t can, indeed, shock noise from supersonic j e t s , " AIM J., 20,
provide f a i r l y accurate f i r s t order estimates of 68-73, 1982.
t h e gross properties of t h e shock c e l l structure.
15. Norum, T.D. and Seiner, J.M., "Measurements
ad
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of mean s t a t i c pressure and f a r f i e l d acoustics of
shock-containing supersonic j e t s , " NASA TM 84521,
T h i s work was supported by NASA Langley 1982.
Aesearch Center under Grant NAG 1-421.
16. Tam. C.K.W.. "Stochastic model theory of
References broadband shock associated noise from supersonic
j e t s , " J . Sound and Vibration, (submitted f o r
1. Powell, A., "On t h e noise emanating from a publication), 1986.
two dimensional j e t above the c r i t i c a l pressure,"
Aeronautical Quarterly, 4,103-122, 1953. 17. Prandtl, L., "iiber d i e stationaren wellen in
einem Gasstrahl," Phys. Zeit., 5, 599-601, 1904.
2. H a m i t t , A.G., "The o s c i l l a t i o n and noise of
an overpressure sonic jet," J . Aerospace Sciences, 18. Pack. D.C.. "A note on P r a n d t l ' s formula f o r
28, 673-680, 1961.
- t h e waveiength. of a supersonic gas j e t , " 9.J.
Mech. Appl. Maths., 1,173-181, 1950.
3. Tam, C.K.W., Seiner, J.M. and Yu, J.C.,
"ProDosed r e l a t i o n s h i p between broadband shock 19. Adamson, T.C. and Nicholls, J.A., "On t h e
associated noise and screech tones," J . Sound and s t r u c t u r e o f j e t s from highly underexpanded
Vibration, ( t o appear), 1986. nozzles i n t o s t i l l a i r , " J. Aero.Sci., 26, 16-24,
1959.
4. Powell, A., "On the mechanism of choked j e t
noise," Proc. Phy. SOC., s e c t . 6. 66, 1039- - 20. Love, E.S., "Experimental and theoretical
1056, 1953. studies of axisymnetric f r e e j e t s , " NASA TR-R6,
1959.
5. Krothapalli, A., Hsia, Y., Baganoff, D. and
Karamcheti, K . , "The r o l e of screech tones on 21. Salas, K D . , "The numerical calculation of
mixing of an underexpanded rectangular j e t , " J- inviscid plume flow f i e l d s , " AIAA paper No.74-523,
Sound and Vibration, 2,119-143, 1986. 1974.
6. Tam, C.K.W., Jackson, J.A. and Seiner, J.M., 22. Dash, S.M. and Thorpe, R.D., "A new shock-
"A multiole-scales model of t h e shock c e l l caoturino/shock f i t t i n o comoutational model f o r
s t r u c t u r e of imperfectly expanded supersonic aialyzing supersonic inviscid flow," ARAP Rep.
j e t s , " J. Fluid Mech., E,123-149, 1985. No. 366, 1978.
3& 7. Powell, A., "The noise of choked j e t s , " J- 23. Dash. S.M.. Wolf. D.E. and Seiner. J.M..
Acoustical SOC. Amer., 25, 385-389, 1953. "Analysis.of turbulent .underexpanded jets, .Part I:
8. Harper-Bourne, M. and Fisher, M.J., "The 23, 505-514, 1985.
-
Parabolized Navier-Stokes Model, SCIPVIS," AIAA J . ,
noise from shock waves in supersonic j e t s , "
-
Proceedings (No. 131) of the AGARD Conference on 24. Seiner, J.M., Dash, S.M. and Wolf, D.E.,
noise mechanisms, Brussels, Belgium, 1973. "Analysis of turbulent underexpanded jets, Part 11:
Shock noise features using SCIPVIS," AIAA J.,
9. Tanna, H.K., "An experimental study of jet -
23, 669-677, 1985.
noise, Part 11: Shock associated noise,". J . Sound
and Vibration, 0, 429-444, 1977. 25. Haberman, R., Elementary Applied Partial
Differential Equations. Prentice-Hal
______ I, 1983.
10. Seiner, J.M. and Norum, T.D., "Experiments on
shock associated noise of supersonic jets," AIAA 26. Morse, P.M. and Feshbach, H . , Methods of
paper No. 79-1526, 1979. Theoretical Ph&. McGraw H i l l , 1953.
11. Seiner. J.M. and Norum. T.D.. "Aerodvnamics 27. McLachlan, N.W., Theory and Application of
aspects o f - shock containing j e t . plumes," AIAA Mathieu Functions. Dover, 1Yb4.
paper No. 80-0965, 1980.
28. Liepmann, H.W. and Roshko, A., Elements of
12. Seiner, J.M. and Yu, J.C., "Acoustic near Gasdynamics. Wiley and Sons, 1957.
f i e l d and local flow properties associated with
broadband shock noise," AIAA paper No. 81-1975, 29. Yu, J.C. and Seiner, J.M., "Nearfield
1981. observations of tones generated from supersonic
j e t flows," AIM paper No. 83-0706, 1983.
13. Tam. C.K.W. and Tanna. H.K.. "Shock
associated noise of supersonic jets from
convergent-divergent nozzles," J. Sound and
Vibration, -
81, 337-358, 1982.
 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1 .a
I(.
J
Figure 5. Cmpariron m e n mawred and calculated shock c e l l spacing$ of rectangular j e t s .
Pow11 11953). blh.5.83 i 0 H m i t t 119611; -weguat(On (2.44).

0.3

f hlu .
I

0.2

0.1

I
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 8
H.I
Figure 6. Ccnparirm betlbeen~.mawredand calCY1ated ICreeCh tone fmquencies of rectangular IU ersonic j e t s

-o ?mnozzle, b
€wattlo" 13.31.
nozzle, Kvothapalli e t a1 11986); 3.05 m nozrle, P m l l 1195!1;

9
 2

t
2 I

shwk c e l l s Sory.r) +S1rY.zl = 0

Figure 1. S c h m t i c diagram of the shmk c e l l ftructure of a vortex sheet j e t .

Figure 2. Rectangular j e t with aspect r a t i o h I b

i j'

B = ./2

Figvre 4. Relationship betmen t h e r i l e o f a J e t a t t h e norlle uit

and *t fully expanded F.3nditiO".

Figure 3. E l l i p t i c cylinder coordinater