Wind tunnel testing and modelling of a rod-airfoil setup: validation and 3D acoustic imaging

This work revisits the rod-airfoil benchmark experiment from Jacob et al. (2004) with the aim of performing a detailed numerical validation in the nearfield and far field as well as to perform 3D acoustic imaging. The setup consists of a rod near the leading edge of a NACA-0012 airfoil and is placed in a semi-open wind tunnel in anechoic conditions. In addition to a far-field microphone array, the setup is equipped with two planar microphone arrays as well as wall-mounted microphones on the closed wind tunnel section and on the airfoil. The setup is modelled using a second-order finite volume method, and particular attention is devoted to including installation effects and sensor response properties in order to guarantee simulation accuracy. Validation examples are provided, including single microphone spectra as well as the acoustic field reconstructed on the test object by means of 3D acoustic imaging using the planar microphone arrays. Finally, the experimentally-validated numerical model is used as a means to gain further insight into the tested object. For instance, the model allows to separate acoustical and turbulent effects present in the sensors located within the flow section.