Aeroacoustic modeling of a low Reynolds number rotor in the wake of a cylindrical beam

In micro air vehicles, low Reynolds number rotors operating in close proximity to the fuselage raises the question of interaction noise as a prominent acoustic source. This paper proposes to comprehensively explore the interaction noise generation mechanisms, employing numerical simulations, experimental approaches, and analytical modelling. The focus is on scenarios where a low Reynolds number rotor is located in the wake of a cylindrical beam, and oppositely when the beam is in the wake of the rotor. In both scenarios, it is observed experimentally that the amplitudes of the BPF harmonics are increased with respect to that obtained without beam. This increase is higher when the rotor is in the wake of the beam compared to when the beam is in the wake of the rotor. The numerical simulation is shown to reproduce quite well the envelope of the amplitudes of the BPF harmonics obtained experimentally in both scenarios. Interestingly, by applying Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings analogy on elementary surfaces, and not on the whole rotor-beam surface, the main sound generation mechanism was found to be the unsteady loading on the beam in both scenarios. Finally, an analytical modeling of the noise source mechanism is compared with experimental and numerical results.