THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA VOLUME 31, NUMBER 12 DECEMBER, 1959

On the Aerodynamic Noise of a Rigid Flat Plate Moving at Zero Incidence

ALAN POWELL*
Departmentof Engineering,Universityof California, Los Angeles24, California
(ReceivedSeptember,1959)

The aerodynamicnoiseresultingfrom the subsonicflow over a flat rigid plate at zeroincidencehasthree

origins."Surface"noisedue to fluctuatingsurfacepressureis postulatedto vanishby the author'simage
argument,exceptnear the edgesof the plate, whereit is more appropriatelycallededgenoise.Of dipole
nature,its acousticpowerdependson the velocityraisedto betweenthe fourth and fifth power,and conse-
quentlyis to be expectedto be of primeimportanceat low enoughspeeds.The contributionfrom fluctuating
shearstresses is likely to be muchsmallerand sohasbeenneglected.Quadrupoleradiationtakesplacefrom
from the turbulenceof the boundarylayer, producinglayer noiseand alsofrom the turbulent wake, pro-
ducingwakenoise.Together,the latter two are suggested to havea spectrumwith a singlepeak,boundedby
slopeslike ? and f-7/4. Their noisepowerdependson nearlythe eighthpowerof velocity,sois of increasing
importancewith speed.Analyticaldetailsrest on similarityconcepts;the spectrain particularare subject
to certain conditions.Also, the convectioneffectson the acousticalpowerand spectraare excludedon em-
piricalgroundsstemmingfrom considerations of jet noise.

1. INTRODUCTION
and moreover,decreaseas the flow velocity increases.
These effectsresult in edgenoise,its acousticpower
LTHOUGH
the subjecta
ofconsiderable
literature
the aerodynamic now
noise exists
on
of turbulent dependingupon a relatively low power of velocity,
(betweenfour and five).• As the fluctuationsof traction
jets,thereis relativelylittle on that of boundarylayers,
and even lesson that of turbulent wakes. Hence, it is stressare lessthan thoseof the pressure,by a factor
very instructiveto see what are the indicationsof which is probably about the magnitude of the skin
similarity analyses.The similarity concept,a corner- friction coefficient,(•10-3), it looksas if the traction
stone of boundarylayer theory, gave resultsfor jet dipoleswill not contributevery muchto the total noise
noisewhich are very encouraging, • although,perhaps, power,evenif someof the assumptions impliedby this
the problemnow is to explainwhy the resultsare so comparisonare rather poor.
good,in viewof certainfeatureshavingbeenleft out of So far as practical applicationsare concerned,the
the analysis.This will not be attemptedat the present work has somerelevanceto many situationswhere the
time;rather, the analysisfor boundarylayerswill be pressuregradient is small, for example, to lightly
pursuedin a similarvein.As no experimental data are loaded lifting surfacesand to more or less parallel
presentlyavailableto confirmor confound the validity fuselagesor other cylindricalbodies,althoughcondi-
tionsat the rear of the latter will generallyneeda some-
of the results,they shouldbe regardedas trendsto be what modified treatment.
lookedfor rather than as firm predictions.
Emphasisis given to the noisegeneratedby a flat 2. NOTATION
plate at zeroincidence.A quadrupolegeneratednoise
will arise from the volume of turbulenceadjacent to, .Be,XPl boundarylayer noisepower, edge and layer,
and behindthe plate; thesewill be calledlayer noise P• wake noisepower,
and wake noise, respectively.The image argument, 2 u mean relative flow velocity,
whichis capableof rigorousprooffor an inviscidfluid, p mean fluid density,
suggests that pressurefluctuations betweenthe fluid speedof sound,
and the plate are ineffectivein producingacoustic characteristicfluctuationamplitude,
energy,for an effectivelyinfiniteplate.However,close characteristicpressureamplitude,
to the edgesthe argumentfails: the pressuredipole characteristicfrequency,
radiation is therefore presumedto take place from 5', •) correlationarea, volume,
stripsadjacentto the edges,corresponding to the phys- W width of plate,
ical pictureof the flow movingaroundthe edgefrom b
one side to the other. Becausethe principal acoustic effectiveedgewidth active,
wavelengthis roughlyproportionalto the boundary streamwisecoordinate,
L streamwiselengthof plate,
layer thickness,the width of the effectivestripsalong
the edges increases
with distance fromtheleadingedge; boundarylayer thicknessor wakewidth at x,
* Also,Consultant,DouglasAircraft Company,SantaMonica, boundarylayer thicknessat L.
California.Partial supportfor this work was alsoprovidedby
ONR Contract Nonr-233(62), Project NR 062-229. • "Panting" noise,causedby forced vibrationsof the surface
• Alan Powell,J. Acoust.Soc.Am. 31, 812-813 (1959). (seereference2) (whichcouldbe alternativelycalled"transduced"
• Alan Powell, "Thoughts on boundarylayer noise,"Aeronau- noise)is absentbecause the surfaceis postulatedto be rigid. It
tical ResearchCouncilRept. 16727(1954), of whichthe present shouldbe notedthat, if it werepresent,it wouldvary with speed
paperis a natural development. to about the samepower as edgenoise.
1649

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 1650 ALAN POWELL

Nondimensional Coefficients thickness

is then givenby
M U/c, Mach number, •xR• -•/•. (3)
f•:/U, "Strouhal"number,
R• pUx/3t,Reynoldsnumber;u, viscosity, Awayfromthe wall the Reynolds stresses(usually
R• Reynolds number for establishedturbulence, written p(uv)) mainly account for the effectiveshear
x/L, stresses,whichmust be proportionalto the wall stress
ro'•'pU2gz---1/5.Hence
P/(pU3w•L),proportional
to efficiency
of energy
conversion.

3. FUNDAMENTAL NOISE GENERATION FORMULAS

...... R•-1/1ø. (4)
U \pU 2! \ pU • /
The use of Lighthill's technique
•'.3enablesone to
Use of the momentumtransfertheory,taking the
obtain the followingnondimensionalrelationshipsfor
mixinglengthto beproportional
to theboundary layer
the layer and edgenoise,in termsof the notation just
given
thickness,givesthe sameresult.For the fluctuating
pressuresone could take

(1) p (U+ ku)•'- U•' u u•'

(5)
pU • U• U U2

d• (5) . (2) wherek is a constantnot widelydifferentfromunity,

The first three terms of the right-hand sidesare non- andu4<<u•'U
•' (remembering
thatu andp areonlychar-
dimensionalparametersof the boundarylayer, and are acteristics,
suchas rms). The Reynoldsnumbereffect
constantsto the first approximation;thus, apart from here is weak, but is clearly evident if Dr. W. W.
Willmarth'smeasurements
the b/w factor, the generationintensityis independent of the plateauof the pres-
of position. surespectrum
•'For the wakeEq. (1) holds,givingd•'•o/d•, 4 are suitablyreplotted.Tentatively,the
if U is interpretedas the (maximum)velocitydeficit effectwill be incorporated:it is easilyremovedif so
at any crosssectionof the wake, and so dependsupon desired.
distance.For the boundarylayer x (and hence •) is The distances over which fluctuations are correlated
measuredfrom the leading edge, but a new origin is will be takento be proportional to the boundary layer
requiredfor the wake. thickness,so
The enigmaticalquestionof the effectsof convection
of the noise-generating turbulencethroughthe ambient s•/i•. . (6)
atmosphere is to be discussedelsewhere.•:The question
The final assumption
concerns
frequency.The most
is a complexone, and a simpleformulationon funda-
simpleform will be taken; it is
mentally completeideas is not yet feasible.The ap-
proach taken here is that no attempt will be made to f•U/•. (7)
incorporateit in the analyses,on the empiricalgrounds
that in an associatedproblem,namely jet noise,good Intensity of Source Distributions
agreementwith experimentresulted under the same
circumstance.However, the same empirical grounds Use of the assumptions
of the previoussectionsin
indicate that purely directionaleffectswill be present, Eqs.(1) and(2) immediately
yieldstheintensity
of the
in this caseresulting in a bias of the radiation in the sourcedistributions.
For the quadrupole layer noise,
upstreamdirection.Thus, in supersonicflow, much of d•-•/d•, MSR•-8/•'5•
-•'/5. (8)
the boundarylayer noisemay catchup with a leading
shockwave and so be practicallyabsorbed. For the effectivewidth of the streamwise
stripsfor
the dipoleedgenoise,take
4. BOUNDARY LAYER NOISE
b•,c/f•,c•/V
Boundary Layer Flow Relationships ,-•/M,
In order to get definite results, a specificform of
whichshows
that at lowMachnumbers thestripsmay
boundarylayer growth must be assumed.As the results be quitewide.The useof this expression leadsto
are rather insensitive to the exact form, the "one-
seventhlaw" is attractive becauseof its simplicity; the d•r,,•/d•-,m•'R•-a/•'5•a/•
(• •Jw). (9)
3M. J. Lighthill, Proc. Roy. Soc. (London) A211, 564-587 4W ß W . Wi11mar th , " Spacetime correlations
and spectraof
(1952). wall pressurein a turbulent boundarylayer," Natl. Aero. and
•:Alan Powell, Letter to the Editor (in preparation). SpaceAdmin. Memo 3-17-59W (1959).

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 AERODYNAMIC NOISE OF A MOVING PLATE 1651

Two points are of specialimportance.Firstly, the

dependence on speedis muchlowerfor the..d•pole,nmse, ..--.-o--,,-...-b • •- c • -' d • • ß > •-

M 2 replacingM 5 of the quadrupolelayer noise. Sec-

ondly, while the quadrupolelayer noisedecreases
some-
what with distancefrom the leading edge, the dipole
edge noise increases,with a large contribution from_
near the trailingedge(seethe next section).õ
o • ,, o__ w• •'
Noise Power
----..-X,(',
(BOUNDARY
L•FER)I X,(',( )
FIO. 1. Schematicdiagram showingregionsof flow about flat
The total noise power follows by integrating Eqs. plate: (a) laminarboundarylayer springingfrom leadingedgeO,
(8) and (9) betweenappropriatelimits, namely, • to (b) transitionalregionto (c), establishedturbulent boundary
layer displayingsimilarity. The wake commences at the trailing
L/•. The lower limit •t corresponds to a convenient edgeC, and after a transitionalregion (d), displayssimilarity in
point near the commencement of the similarity region, region (e). The wake semiwidth is defined so that its curve has a
semiwidth• at C, producinga new origin at Q.
point B of Fig. 1; an error term (which will not be
written down) shouldbe added to allow for departures
power is concernedwhen the Reynolds number is
from strict similarity, especiallycloseto the transition
to turbulence. comparativelysmall,it then overpoweringthe weaken-
Let the Reynoldsnumber at the lower limit be con- ing influenceof the RL1/• factor.
stant and equalto R1, so In fact, somerough estimatessuggestthat the con-
stantsof proportionalitymissingfrom Eqs. (10a) and
(11a) are likely to be aboutthe sameorderof magni-
Then the total quadrupolelayer noiseis tude, strengthening the important suggestion (i)
preceding.
•rz•MSR•-i/5{1 -- (R1/RL)a/5} (10) If Eqs. (10) to (12) are interpretedin termsof effi-
and the total dipole edge noise from the streamwise ciency, it might be argued that none of the power
edges•r,.s,is
accounted for by the laminar layer shouldbe charged
as "available"for noisegenerationin the turbulent
region.Takingthisinto account,a term { 1-- (R•/R;) 4/•}
then entersthe denominatorof theseequations.On this
Sincethe effectivestrip width at the trailing edgewill
basis,the efficiencyof energyconversion,from kinetic
vary as •/M, very nearly, the contributionfrom the
to acoustic,falls off (rather rapidly at first) with in-
trailing edgefollowsas
creasein Reynoldsnumber [-that is, apart from the
•re.t•M2R• -•/•. (12) strongerMach numbereffectapparentin Eqs. (10) to
(12)•.
It is useful to have these last three expressionsin
dimensionalform, thus, Power Spectra
P,•.pa/* u•/• U 7•/• wLa/•{1--(R1/R•)a/5}/c•, (10a) On the basisthat &r/dr= (d•r/d•i)(d•/dv)information
can be obtainedabout the shapeof the powerspectra
of the noisegenerated.Making appropriateuseof Eqs.
p,.t•pal• ual•U4al•wLalS/ca
' (12a) (8) and (9), it turns out that

Theseresultsclearly suggestdominanceof the dipole &r•/dv• M•R• •/%-7/4 (13)

edgenoiseoverthe quadrupolelayer noisewhen (i) the for the layer noise,whilefor the streamwise
edges
Mach number is low, the relevant ratio being 1' M s,
(ii) the plate is narrow and long, Eqs. (11) and (10) dwe,s/dy•M2R•l /• (L/w) y-•. (14)
showingthepertinentratio to beL:w, (iii) the Reynolds In dimensional form these •re
number is large, this effect being a rather weak one
associated with the last factor in the numerators and in aP1/df•ps/4•ll4W8l12w/c5
f7/4 (13•)
•nd
.practicelikely to be maskedby other effects,someof
which are not very amenableto analysis.However, this dPe,s/df • p$7/cefa. (14•)
effect of the shifting forward of transition is an im- The trailing edgenoisewill producea spectrumwhose
portant factor as the speedis increasedso far as noise shape will dependprincipally on the local character-
õ Either spatialor temporaldisturbancesof the meanoncoming isticsof the flow there; this type of analysiscan only
flow, of "small" scaleand "high" frequencywill result in leading indicatethat the trailing edgenoisewill be placedat
edge noise. If these scalesare not small, fluctuating lift forces low end of spectrumof the streamwise edgenoise.
arise, with a consequentsound radiation. The edge tone is a
specialcase(a jet replacingthe unlimitedsteadyflow) whichfalls It is seenthat the streamwiseedgenoisespectrumis
into either category,dependingupon circumstances. noticeablysteeperthan that for the layer noise,because

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 1652 ALAN POWELL

of the increasingeffectivenessas the boundary layer Although this looks like the corresponding expression
thickens; also, it is independentof the plate width, for jet noise, yielding the "USd•'" law, the situation
while both the trailing edge noiseand the layer noise here is a little different becausethe energy supply de-
are proportionalto it. Unfortunatelyfrom the experi- pendson Reynoldsnumber,specifically
mentalpoint of view, the differencein spectralslopeof
P•o"' pUaw$r.M •
Eqs. (13a) and (14a) is not very marked.
'•p4/51•1/øU7
4/•wL4/ø/c•. (18a)
Alternate Hypothesis for Frequency
In this expression,the conventionalthicknessof the
It might be arguedthat the frequencygivenby Eq. turbulent boundarylayer has been taken; that is, no
(7) is more typical of the spatialvariationsof more or attempt has beenmade to allow for a transitioneffect
less"frozen"eddysystemasit issweptpasta stationary sofar as the wake momentumis concerned.Apart from
observer,rather than of the true time fluctuations; this, the result is rather similar to that for layer noise,
perhapsa betterhypothesis wouldbe to take f,-.u/•. Eq. (10a), exceptthat the Reynoldsnumbereffectis
Becauseof the influenceof Reynoldsnumber on u, weaker.
(and not on U), this hypothesisresultsin a stronger
Reynoldsnumber effect (u actually becomingmore Power Spectrum
importantthan p), the noisepowersincreasinga little In nondimensional form, the power spectrumof the
lessquickly with speed,and the generationintensity noisefollowsthe relationship
falling off more quickly in the streamwisedirection.
Consequently, the spectraare rather flatter. d•r•o/dv'-,Møv
2, (19)
5. WAKE NOISE againshowinga resemblance to "downstream"noiseof
a roundjet; but the dimensional
formis rather different,
Wake-Flow Relationships
dP•odf • ow$r•aMø ff
The similarity conceptcan be applied to the wake
whenthe velocitydeficit,on the planeof symmetryof ,•.•pl/51.t4/5U4
1/SwLa 1/•f2/65' (19a)
the mean flow, is small enoughcomparedto the free This showsa rather surprisinglyimportant role for the
stream velocity; that is, the idea applied beyond a fluid viscosity,it being much stronger then that of
certain distahce from the commencement of the wake. density.Sofar as spectrumlevel at a fixedfrequencyis
The wake will be consideredto be plane, in keeping concerned,the plate length has a strong influence.It
with the foregoinganalyses,and this will be the case should not be forgotten, however, that as the plate
if the width of the plate greatly exceedsthe boundary length increases,the highestfrequencyfor which the
layerthickness at the trailingedge,(w/•L>>l). analysisis valid falls like (•L--I'•'L-4/•.
Similarityrelationships are requiredso that usecan
be madeof Eq. (1). The width of the wake,/•,variesas 6. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

x•. Using• as a convenientunit of measure, Concerning the Spectral Slope

••. (•5)
It is apparent that the noiseemanatingfrom any
The velocitydeficitof the wakevariesas x-«, and the sliceof the boundarylayer, howeverthin the slicemay
velocityfluctuationsare taken to be proportionalto be, will have a spectrumof definitewidth. At the pres-
this; then ent, there is no clear indication of what shape this
u/ U,• ti-«. (16) might have. But it is adequatelyclear that if that
spectrumdid not fall fast enoughwith frequency,then
For the "noiseproducingeddy volume"and the fre- the foregoinganalysisfor the spectralslopewouldfail.
quency,Eqs. (6) and (7) will be used. In fact, the spectrumfrom individualelementaryslices
Intensity of Noise SourceDistribution must fall not lessquickly than their aggregate.Some
measurementsof pressurefluctuationsat the wall of
Workingin the samefashionas before,onefinds turbulent boundarylayerscast somelight on the ques-
dx.w/d,•,•,
MS,?4, (17) tion and, althoughtheir usein this connectionis perhaps
a little dubious,at least the generalprinciplesinvolved
whichindicatesa rapidfall of noisegeneration
intensity can be made clear. Now at a given distanceaway, the
alongthe wake,thoughmuchlessrapid than for a radiated quadrupolesoundpressuresquared,depends
circularjet (•-*). upon (pu•')2f4v while it is very plausiblethat the wall
Total Noise Power
pressures, squared,dependuponabout(pu2) 2.Thus,the
criterionbecomesthis' that the slopeof the estimated
By integrationof Eq. (17), the total noisepower spectrumshouldnot exceedf4v times that of the wall
follows as pressures. The measurements by Willmarth4 showthe
r• •M •. (18) wall pressure spectrumto fall off like f-o, roughly,while

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 AERODYNAMIC NOISE OF A MOVING PLATE 1653

Harrison's5are more like f-6. Althoughthesemeasure- spectralpeak apparently emanatesfrom transitional

ments possiblyreflectedmore the eddy passagefre- part betweentheseregions,and so is not amenableto
quency,they suggestthat the spectralslopeshouldbe the type of analysisfollowedhere. (However,in most
lesssteepthan f-iv or f-•'v' Eq. (13a) givesit as f-714. practical situationswhen both boundary layer and jet
The validity of theseresults,then, seemsto hinge on noise are present, and are of comparablemagnitude,
whether the (volume) scalev is frequencydependent' the peak of the latter is likely to occurat a noticeably
it is very plausiblethat the highestfrequencies should lower frequencythan that of the former, (also, the
comefrom the smallesteddies(at any fixed position). convectioneffects upon directionality are opposite in
If this is taken to be the case, the resultsare tenable. nature).
The corresponding criterionfor the streamwiseedge
noiseis that the slopeof the spectrum,estimatedas Total Noise Power
f-a, shouldnot exceedifs times the wall pressure's It is of interest to compare the noise due to the
spectralslopeof f-• or f-0, that is, f-as or f-as. Hence, motion of a jet-propelledairplanethroughthe air with
the situation here is lesscritical than for the quadru-
that generatedby its propulsivejet. Taking the speeds
pole-generated noise. of practicalinterestto be high enoughfor the quadru-
Spectral Shape
pole noise to predominateover the edgenoise]and
neglectingpanting (transduced)boundarylayer noise
The edge noise must predominateat low enough • Us to U 5, which may be expectedto be predominant
Mach numbers.It increasesrelatively slowlywith speed in aircraftand missileinteriors• we note that, just as
(with betweenthe fourth and fifth power), so conse- for jet noise,most of it will be generatedin the region
quently,at higherspeedsthe quadrupolenoiseof the of more or lessconstant (and maximum) rate of shear.
layer and wake will assumegreaterimportance(de- That is, the layer noisewill predominate,and the shear
pendinguponbetweenthe seventhand eighthpowerof area involvedis a large factor (10-100) times the area
the speed).It is interestingthat the spectralshapeof of constantshear of the propulsivejets. Thus, as the
the latter is very similar to that of the noiseof a round flight speedincreases,the layer noise will rapidly in-
turbulentjet. The low frequencypart, emanatingfrom crease,roughly like U 8, while the jet noise depends
the wake, has a slopelike f•', and the high frequency on somethinglike (Uj-U)7Us, where Usis the jet veloc-
part from the boundarylayer is like f-714. For the ity relative to the airplane.6 While Us itself may in-
(round) jet, the slopesare like f•' and f-•'. Physically, creasesomewhatwith the airplane speed,the jet noise
the generalresemblancearisesby virtue of the high certainly decreasesand a point may well always be
frequencypart arisingfrom a regionof constantshear, reachedwhen it is no longer the major noise source.
and the low frequencypart from a regionof free turbu- Calculationof this point is subject to large uncertain-
lencehavingconstantmomentum.]] In both cases,the ties,but it can be statedthat somevery roughestimates
usingtypicalareasand dragcoefficients
(to connectthe
• M. Harrison "Pressure fluctuations on the wall adjacent to a
turbulent boundary layer" David Taylor Model Basin, Hydro- skin friction coefficientand the jet thrust) resultedin
mechanicsLaboratory Rept. 1260 (1958). only moderate subsonicspeeds.
II Althoughthe sourceintensity of a planejet far downstream
falls off with •-4 (like the planewake) the spectralslopedepends
on f•. For a round wake the correspondingvariablesare •-5 and 6Alan Powell "Similarity considerationsof noise production
fa. The likenessreferredto can thus be seento be fortuitoussofar from turbulent jets, both static and moving," DouglasAircraft
as numerical values are concerned. Company,Rept., SM-2346 (1958).

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