NASA/TM—2005-213814 AIAA–2005–3028

Broadband Noise Reduction of a Low-Speed

Fan Noise Using Trailing Edge Blowing
Daniel L. Sutliff
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

June 2005
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NASA/TM—2005-213814 AIAA–2005–3028

Broadband Noise Reduction of a Low-Speed

Fan Noise Using Trailing Edge Blowing
Daniel L. Sutliff
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Prepared for the

11th Aeroacoustics Conference
cosponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
and the Confederation of European Aerospace Societies
Monterey, California, May 23–25, 2005

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

June 2005
 Available from
NASA Center for Aerospace Information National Technical Information Service
7121 Standard Drive 5285 Port Royal Road
Hanover, MD 21076 Springfield, VA 22100

Available electronically at http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov

 Broadband Noise Reduction of a Low-Speed Fan Noise
Using Trailing Edge Blowing
Daniel L. Sutliff
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Glenn Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio 44135

I. Abstract
An experimental proof-of-concept test was conducted to demonstrate reduction of rotor-stator
interaction noise through the use of rotor-trailing edge blowing. The velocity deficit from the viscous
wake of the rotor blades was reduced by injecting air into the wake from a continuous trailing edge slot.
Hollow blades with interior guide vanes create flow channels through which externally supplied air flows
from the blade root to the trailing edge. A previous paper documented the substantial tonal reductions of
this Trailing Edge Rotor Blowing (TERB) fan. This report documents the broadband characteristics of
TERB.
The Active Noise Control Fan (ANCF), located at the NASA Glenn Research Center, was used as the
proof-of-concept test bed. Two-component hotwire data behind the rotor, unsteady surface pressures on
the stator vane, and farfield directivity acoustic data were acquired at blowing rates of 1.1, 1.5, and
1.8 percent of the total fan mass flow. The results indicate a substantial reduction in the rotor wake
turbulent velocity and in the stator vane unsteady surface pressures. Based on the physics of the noise
generation, these indirect measurements indicate the prospect of broadband noise reduction. However,
since the broadband noise generated by the ANCF is rotor-dominated, any change in the rotor-stator
interaction broadband noise levels is barely distinguishable in the farfield measurements.

II. Introduction
The velocity deficit due to the viscous wakes of the rotor blades impinging on the stator vanes is a
prime component of rotor-stator interaction noise.1 This periodic wake disturbance interacts with the
stator causing unsteady surface pressures on the stator vane that in turn couple to the duct acoustic modes.
The magnitude of the wake deficit correlates to the acoustic levels. It has been demonstrated analytically
and experimentally that reducing the harmonic content of the wake will have a substantial effect on
reducing the tone component of the fan noise. The wake deficit also contains broadband turbulence that is
generally greater than the free-stream levels and therefore is a primary contributor to the broadband rotor-
stator interaction noise.
One method to reduce the velocity deficit is to fill the wakes by injecting air into the wakes from a
slot in the trailing edge. Prior experiments using rotor trailing edge blowing in a blow-down facility2 and
inlet guide vane trailing edge blowing3 have shown that filling the wake through trailing edge blowing
reduces the harmonic content of the wake. A detailed assessment of the tonal characteristics of the TERB
installed on the ANCF, as well as a description of the composite hollow blade assembly, and
computational predictions was presented in an earlier paper.4 This paper assumes the reader has
familiarity with reference 4.
It is assumed that the mean wake filling results in lower velocity gradients thereby reducing the
turbulence generation mechanism in the wake. The energizing of the wake with the lower-turbulence air
can reduce the unsteady surface pressure response of the stator vane. To the extent this unsteady pressure
is reduced, the acoustic response will be attenuated.
Blowing rates (defined as mass flow injected into the rotor system divided by the fan mass flow of
125 lb/sec) of 1.1, 1.5, and 1.8 percent at a fan speed of 1800 corrected rpm were tested. The turbulent
velocity (measured using a two-component hot-film), the stator vane unsteady surface pressures, and the
farfield directivity were acquired and evaluated.

NASA/TM—2005-213814 1
 III. Experimental Apparatus
A. ANCF Test Bed
The test was performed on the NASA Glenn 48” Active Noise Control Fan5 (ANCF) in the fall of
2004. It is located in the Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory (AAPL) shown in figure 1(a). The ANCF
is a ducted fan used to test noise reduction concepts (fig. 1(b)). The four foot diameter fan produces a tip
speed of ~425 ft/sec resulting in a mass flow of approximately 125 lb/sec. A 16-bladed rotor in
combination with a variable stator vane count and spacing produces the desired rotor-stator interaction
modal content at a Blade Passing Frequency (BPF) of approximately 500 Hz along with the harmonics.
For the Trailing Edge Rotor Blowing (TERB) test, 14 stator vanes at 1/2-chord spacing were used
(nominally 2.5” spacing between the rotor trailing edge and the stator leading edge, at the hub).

B. Trailing Edge Blowing Rotor

The ANCF facility was chosen for this experiment because the relatively low speed allows for a
correspondingly simple design. Sixteen composite hollow rotor blades were installed in the ANCF for this
experiment. A photograph of the installed blades is shown in figure 2(a).
Figure 2(b) shows a model of the assembled blade with the pressure side skin removed to illustrate
the flow passages. Figure 2(c) shows an exploded diagram of the blade components. Each component is
fabricated separately. Internal flow channels are created by an internal sintered part along with the airfoil
skins. The forward and aft flow channel boundaries are contained in a single component fabricated using
laser-sintering techniques. Blade skins are made of graphite/epoxy laminates. The internal geometry is
critical in delivering the air to the trailing edge with minimal losses. The hub contained an impeller device
that accepted flow from the central drive shaft, turned the flow radial, and delivered it to the fan blade
with the proper rotational velocity. The supply air injection through the ANCF drive shaft allowing the air
to be introduced without affecting the existing flow as shown in figure 3.
The trailing edge slot created a thick or blunt trailing edge that with no blowing was unsuitable for
baseline noise measurements due to vortex shedding. Therefore, a set of inserts that created a sharp
trailing edge was installed to more closely model a realistic rotor blade. Although this extended the chord
approximately 1/2” (nominal chord, 5”) this effect was ignored and the rotor blades with inserts were
defined as the baseline rotor for comparison.

IV. Experimental Methodology and Results

A schematic of the ANCF with measurement locations is shown in figure 4. The baseline case (rotor
with trailing edge inserts installed) is compared to the same rotor using three blowing rates: 1.1, 1.5, and
1.8 percent.

A. Hotwire
1. Method
Two component hotwire data (axial and tangential) for the baseline rotor and blowing cases were
acquired 1/2 rotor chord behind the rotor at 15 radial positions, at 1800 rpm. Hotwire time histories were
acquired synchronous to the shaft rotation at 640 samples-per-revolution for 500 revolutions. The two-
component time histories were converted to velocity and flow angle using a two-dimensional fourth-order
polynomial curve fit obtained from an off-line calibration in a free jet over the expected experiment
velocity and flow angles. This calibration was at a single fixed temperature-the shop air delivery system
(~70 °F).
The velocity and flow angle as a function of time were time-domain-averaged over a complete
revolution and then further averaged over a single blade passage (40 points). These time histories were
then subtracted in blocks aligned to the fan-one-per-rev signal from the original time history to obtain the
turbulent velocity, either revolution or passage-averaged.

NASA/TM—2005-213814 2
 v ' (t ) = V (t ) − V (1 : 40) where : v ' (t ) is the turbulent velocity
V (t ) is the total velocity
V (1 : 40) is the velocity averaged over onepassage

2. Results
The passage-averaged turbulent velocity is shown in figure 5 for the four cases in contour plot format.
Figure 6(a) shows selected radial slices of the turbulent velocity across one blade passage selected to
represent the tip area (r = 22”), the mid-span region (r = 18”), and the hub region (r = 12’). These slices
illustrate the percentage width of the turbulent wake compared to the passage, and the maximum value of
the turbulence or “peak turbulence”. In a relative sense, these values indicate the strength of the acoustic
response.
Using 1.1 percent blowing, the wake width is nearly the same as compared to the baseline at
32.5 percent for both. The peak turbulence at the tip area is lower (6.8 vs 8.8 fps) when using blowing. In
the mid-span the wake is modestly reduced. Near the hub region the wake character is approximately the
same as the baseline. Blowing at the 1.5 and 1.8 percent rates reduces the turbulent wake significantly. At
the tip region these blowing rates have a reduced wake width of about 25 percent of the rotor passage
verse 32.5 percent for baseline wake. The peak depth of the wake is reduced to 4.1 and 5.5 fps
respectively, indicating that 1.5 percent is more the effective blowing rate. At the mid-span region the
effectiveness of these two blowing rates is approximately equal. The wake width has been reduced but
with a slight skewing toward the suction side. The max wake depth is reduced to 4.1/4.4 fps, respectively.
In the hub region the wake width is reduced similar amounts with the two blowing rates, but the depth is
reduced from 8 to 4.6/3.9 fps indicating that the 1.8 percent rate is more effective in reducing the wake
turbulence levels at the hub region.
The distribution of the optimum rate (1.5 percent at the tip, equivalent at mid-span, 1.8 percent at the
hub) corresponds very well to the observation that the tip portion of the mean wake is actually over-filled,
while the hub span is under-filled (ref. 4). As over-blowing occurs, the velocity gradients in the mean
wake increase, resulting in stronger turbulence. An iterated distribution (modifying the slot thickness)
would result in a uniform wake modification at a blowing rate between 1.5 and 1.8 percent, which might
be more effective at reducing the turbulence.
The turbulent velocity spectra (fig. 6(b)) indicate that lower turbulence is produced up to the 8th fan
harmonic (128 shaft orders) when blowing is applied. The spectra confirm the optimum blowing rate to
be 1.5 or 1.8 percent depending upon the span location. The reduction in the spectral amplitude over the
1st 3 harmonics (8 to 48 shaft orders), where the highest turbulence levels are produced, is 45 to
55 percent. At the higher frequencies, which have lower turbulent amplitudes, the reduction is 25 to
50 percent.

B. Surface Pressures
1. Method
Unsteady stator vane surface pressures were also acquired for the baseline rotor and 1.8 percent
blowing rate. The suction and pressure side of a single stator vane were each instrumented with
30 microphones as detailed in figure 4. The microphones were flush mounted on the surfaces and
distributed along three span locations (r/Rtip = 0.49, 0.74, and 0.91) and a radial line at 20 percent chord.
The time histories were acquired synchronous to the shaft rotation at 256 samples-per-revolution for
500 revolutions. A frequency domain averaged FFT with an ensemble length of five revolutions was
obtained from the time histories. The shaft-order harmonics, which are bin-centered due to the
synchronous sampling technique, were removed from the spectra. The remaining spectra is defined as the
broadband content and was integrated for each microphone from 0.5 to 1.5 BPF to give the broadband
SPL for the 1st harmonic; from 1.5 to 2.5 BPF to give the broadband SPL for the 2nd harmonic; and from
2.5 to 3.5 BPF to give the broadband SPL for the 3rd harmonic. The integrated SPL levels for individual
microphones are then summed to obtain the overall unsteady broadband noise on the vane. Unsteady tonal

NASA/TM—2005-213814 3
surface pressures over a stator vane has been shown to have a direct relationship to the tone farfield PWL
for this fan,6 similarly, the broadband stator vane pressures have been shown to have a relationship to the
farfield broadband levels for a high-speed fan.7
2. Results
The suction and pressure surface unsteady broadband pressures of the stator vane are plotted in
figures 7 to 9 for the 3 harmonic bands described above. For the 1st harmonic band, figure 7(a) shows that
span-wise along the 20 percent chord line the unsteady pressure is reduced 1 to 2 dB on the suction side
but only a fraction of a dB along the pressure side. The chord-wise pressure distributions in figure 7(b)
show that most of the reduction in the unsteady pressure occurs at the leading edge (10 percent) and the
60 to 85 percent region on the suction side (the relative contribution of a given region to the radiated
sound is not known). The reductions in the 2nd harmonic band unsteady pressures (fig. 8) along the vane
surfaces, both suction and pressure sides, though the mid-chord region is less affected on the suction side.
The 3rd harmonic band (fig. 9) shows a consistent reduction of 2 to 5 dB over both surfaces.

C. Farfield
1. Method
Farfield acoustic data were acquired over the entire range of blowing rates. Thirty microphones were
distributed along an arc of 12’ radius with approximately 5° increments. Data were acquired at
256 samples per-rev and FFT were obtained by averaging ensemble blocks five revolutions long. The
shaft-order harmonics, which are bin-centered due to the synchronous sampling technique, were removed
from the spectra. The remaining spectra is defined as the broadband content and was integrated for each
microphone from 0.5 to 1.5 BPF to give the broadband SPL for the 1st harmonic; from 1.5 to 2.5 BPF to
give the broadband SPL for the 2nd harmonic; and from 2.5 to 3.5 BPF to give the broadband SPL for the
3rd harmonic. The SPL directivity was integrated over the directivity angle subtended by the microphone,
assuming constant SPL over the azimuthal angle, to obtain the broadband harmonic PWL.
The ANCF farfield broadband directivity has approximately equal contributions from the rotor and
stator; that is the stator vane broadband noise is just distinguishable in the farfield. This makes
determination of rotor-stator interaction noise reduction problematic. However, it is instructive to note the
characteristics of the broadband farfield acoustics of blowing, with the stators installed.
2. Results
Figure 10 shows the farfield broadband acoustic directivity characteristics of the TERB for the first
three harmonic bands. The forward sector is unchanged at the lower rates (1.1 to 1.5 percent). The 1st
harmonic band shows modest decreases in the aft sector at 1.1 percent. The 1.8 percent blowing rate
shows a 1 dB increase in the PWL for both sectors. For the 2nd and 3rd harmonics the forward sector is
essentially unchanged with blowing. The aft sector shows a fraction of a dB decrease in the 2nd, and a
1.0 dB decrease in the 3rd, harmonic bands with blowing.
Figure 11 shows the integrated PWLs for the forward and aft sectors for 6 harmonic bands. This
illustrates the negligible overall changes in the forward sector with blowing (except at 1.8 percent).
However, the aft quadrant shows clear reductions of 1 to 1.5 dB integrated PWL. Since the fan is aft
dominated, this would drive the total reduction. The observed reduction in the aft sector and not the
forward sector is probably related to rotor blockage. Any reduction in stator noise is probably not
noticeable forward of the rotor.

V. Conclusions
The rotor blades of a low-speed fan were designed to reduce the rotor-stator interaction noise through
the use of rotor trailing edge blowing. Composite hollow rotor blades were designed with internal
passages to deliver the injected flow at the design pressure and flow rate to fill the wake momentum
deficit. Two rotor blade configurations were tested: (ref. 1) the rotor with trailing edge inserts installed
(no blowing–baseline) and (ref. 2) blowing through the slotted trailing edge at rates from 1.1, 1.5, and
1.8 percent of the fan mass flow rate. Types of data acquired were: (ref. 1) two-component hotwire

NASA/TM—2005-213814 4
downstream of the rotor, (ref. 2) unsteady surface pressures on a stator vane, and (ref. 3) farfield
directivity. These data were analyzed for broadband character.
The turbulence level downstream of the rotor was reduced 25 to 50 percent. An average reduction in
the broadband SPL integrated over the stator vane of 2 to 3 dB was measured when blowing was applied.
These physical quantities are known to be related to the rotor-stator interaction broadband acoustics.
Indeed these methods were shown in the prior paper to have a direct connection to the farfield tones
reductions obtained with trailing edge blowing. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume the possibility of
rotor-stator interaction noise reduction resulting from trailing edge blowing. However, since the
ANCF/TERB is rotor noise dominated, reduction in the rotor-stator interaction broadband farfield noise
was not strongly apparent. Blowing had essentially no effect on the farfield broadband noise forward
sector, due to the rotor-dominated character of the ANCF. The aft sector broadband PWL was reduced 1
to 2 dB.
It is reasonably inferred that applying rotor trailing edge blowing could reduce the broadband rotor-
stator interaction noise.

VI. References
1
Hubbard, H. Harvey, editor, “Aeroacoustics of Flight Vehicles: Theory and Practice: Volume 1,” NASA
Reference Publication 1258, vol 1, WRDC Technical Report 90–3052.
2
Brookfield, J.M. “Turbofan Rotor/Stator Interaction Noise Reduction Through Trailing Edge Blowing,”
Ph.D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June 1998.
3
Rao, N.M., Feng, J., Burdisso, R.A., and Ng, W.F., “Experimental Demonstration of Active Flow
Control to Reduce Unsteady Stator-Rotor Interaction,”AIAA Journal, vol 39, no. 3, March 2001.
4
Sutliff, D.L., Tweedt, D.l, Fite, E.B., and Envia, E., “Low-Speed Fan Noise Reduction with Trailing
Edge Blowing,” NASA/TM—2002–211559/AIAA–2002–2492, June 2002.
5
Heidelberg, L.J., Hall, D.G., Bridges, J.E., Nallasamy, M., “A Unique Ducted Fan Test Bed for Active
Noise Control and Aeroacoustics Research,” NASA TM 107213/AIAA–96–1740, May 1996.
6
Sutliff, D.L., Heidelberg, L.J., Envia, E., “Coupling of Low Speed Fan Stator Vane Unsteady pressures
to Duct Modes: Measured vs Predicted,” NASA/TM—1999–0209050/AIAA–99–1864, May 1999.
7
Envia, E., “Fan Noise Source Diagnostic Test-Vane Unsteady Pressure Results”, NASA/TM—2002–
211808/AIAA–2002–2430, August 2002.

(a) AeroAcoustic Propulsion Laboratory (b) Advanced Noise Control Fan

Figure 1.—AAPL/ANCF test bed.

NASA/TM—2005-213814 5
 (a) TERB blade installed on ANCF (b) TERB hollow fan blade with pressure side
skin removed

Pressure Side Skin

(Graphite/Epoxy)

Aluminum Shank/Spar
Component

Sintered Flow
Passage and Vane
Component

Suction Side Skin

(Graphite/Epoxy)
Filler
Material

(c) TERB exploded view showing blade components

Figure 2.—Trailing Edge Rotor Blades.

NASA/TM—2005-213814 6
 Figure 3.—Schematic of Ancf/Terb illustrating flow path.

Figure 4.—Schematic of ANCF showing measurement locations.

NASA/TM—2005-213814 7
 tip
v’ (fps)

INSERTS hub 10
9
tip
8
7
1.1% hub 6
5
tip
4
3
1.5% hub 2
1
tip

1.8% hub

Figure 5.—Contour plots of turbulent velocity behind rotor

for several blowing rates.

INSERTS 1.1% 1.5% 1.8%

radius
10 (in) 0.5
v’ (fps)

8 0.4
6 22.0 0.3
4 0.2
2 0.1
0 0
10 0.5
v’ (fps)

8 0.4
6 18.0 0.3
4 0.2
2 0.1
0 0
10 0.5
v’ (fps)

8 0.4
6 12.0 0.3
4 0.2
2 0.1
0 0
0 16 32 48 64 80 96 112 128
Shaft Order

(a) Turbulent Velocity (b) Turbulent Spectra

Figure 6.—Radial plots of turbulent velocity and spectra behind rotor

for several blowing rates.

NASA/TM—2005-213814 8
 Inserts 1.8%

Suction Side Pressure Side

0.95 0.95
0.91 0.91
0.83 0.83
0.74 0.74
span

span
0.66 0.66
0.58 0.58
0.49 0.49
0.43 0.43
0.37 0.37
100 105 110 115 120 100 105 110 115 120
SPL (dB) SPL (dB)
(a) spanwise along 20% chord
120 120
SPL (dB)
SPL (dB)

115 115
110 110
105 105
100 100
r/Rtip = 0.91
120 120
SPL (dB)

SPL (dB)

115 115
110 110
105 105
100 100
r/Rtip = 0.74
120 120
SPL (dB)

SPL (dB)

115 115
110 110
105 105
100 100
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 85 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 85
chord chord
r/Rtip = 0.49

(b) chordwise at r/Rtip span

Figure 7.—1st harmonic band unsteady stator vane pressures.

NASA/TM—2005-213814 9
 Inserts 1.8%

Suction Side Pressure Side

0.95 0.95
0.91 0.91
0.83 0.83
0.74 0.74
span

span
0.66 0.66
0.58 0.58
0.49 0.49
0.43 0.43
0.37 0.37
100 105 110 115 120 100 105 110 115 120
SPL (dB) SPL (dB)
(a) spanwise along 20% chord
120 120

SPL (dB)
SPL (dB)

115 115
110 110
105 105
100 100
r/Rtip = 0.91
120 120
SPL (dB)

SPL (dB)

115 115
110 110
105 105
100 100
r/Rtip = 0.74
120 120
SPL (dB)

SPL (dB)

115 115
110 110
105 105
100 100
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 85 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 85
chord chord
r/Rtip = 0.49

(b) chordwise at r/Rtip span

Figure 8.—2nd harmonic band unsteady stator vane pressures.

NASA/TM—2005-213814 10
 Inserts 1.8%

Suction Side Pressure Side

0.95 0.95
0.91 0.91
0.83 0.83
0.74 0.74
span

span
0.66 0.66
0.58 0.58
0.49 0.49
0.43 0.43
0.37 0.37
95 100 105 110 115 95 100 105 110 115
SPL (dB) SPL (dB)
(a) spanwise along 20% chord
115 115
SPL (dB)
SPL (dB)

110 110
105 105
100 100
95 95
r/Rtip = 0.91
115 115
SPL (dB)

SPL (dB)

110 110
105 105
100 100
95 95
r/Rtip = 0.74
115 115
SPL (dB)

SPL (dB)

110 110
105 105
100 100
95 95
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 85 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 85
chord chord
r/Rtip = 0.49
(b) chordwise at r/Rtip span

Figure 9.—3rd harmonic band unsteady stator vane pressures.

NASA/TM—2005-213814 11
 INSERTS 1.1% 1.5% 1.8%

90
89
88
87

PWL (dB)
86
85
84
83
82
81
80
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Angle (deg)
a) Centered about 1xBPF
90
89
88
87
PWL (dB)

86
85
84
83
82
81
80
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Angle (deg)
b) Centered about 2xBPF
90
89
88
87
PWL (dB)

86
85
84
83
82
81
80
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Angle (deg)
c) Centered about 3xBPF

Figure 10.—Effect of blowing rate on farfield broadband directivity.

Inserts 1.1% 1.5% 1.8%

95 Foward Arc Aft Arc

99

94 98
PWL (dB)

93
PWL (dB)

97

92 96

91 95

90 94
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Harmonic Harmonic

Figure 11.—Effect of blowing rate on farfield PWL.

NASA/TM—2005-213814 12
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June 2005 Technical Memorandum
4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS

Broadband Noise Reduction of a Low-Speed Fan Noise Using Trailing

Edge Blowing
WBS–22–781–30–64
6. AUTHOR(S)

Daniel L. Sutliff

7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION

REPORT NUMBER
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field E–15171
Cleveland, Ohio 44135 – 3191

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AGENCY REPORT NUMBER
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Washington, DC 20546– 0001 NASA TM—2005-213814
AIAA–2005–3028

11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

Prepared for the 11th Aeroacoustics Conference cosponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
and the Confederation of European Aerospace Societies, Monterey, California, May 23–25, 2005. Responsible person,
Daniel L. Sutliff, organization code RTA, 216–433–6290.

12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE

Unclassified - Unlimited
Subject Categories: 07 and 71
Available electronically at http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov
This publication is available from the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information, 301–621–0390.
13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)

An experimental proof-of-concept test was conducted to demonstrate reduction of rotor-stator interaction noise through
the use of rotor-trailing edge blowing. The velocity deficit from the viscous wake of the rotor blades was reduced by
injecting air into the wake from a continuous trailing edge slot. Hollow blades with interior guide vanes create flow
channels through which externally supplied air flows from the blade root to the trailing edge. A previous paper docu-
mented the substantial tonal reductions of this Trailing Edge Rotor Blowing (TERB) fan. This report documents the
broadband characteristics of TERB. The Active Noise Control Fan, located at the NASA Glenn Research Center, was
used as the proof-of-concept test bed. Two-component hotwire data behind the rotor, unsteady surface pressures on the
stator vane, and farfield directivity acoustic data were acquired at blowing rates of 1.1, 1.5, and 1.8 percent of the total
fan mass flow. The results indicate a substantial reduction in the rotor wake turbulent velocity and in the stator vane
unsteady surface pressures. Based on the physics of the noise generation, these indirect measurements indicate the
prospect of broadband noise reduction. However, since the broadband noise generated by the ANCF is rotor-dominated,
any change in the rotor-stator interaction broadband noise levels is barely distinguishable in the farfield measurements.

14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES

18
Aeroacoustics; Noise reduction; Ducted fans 16. PRICE CODE

17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT
OF REPORT OF THIS PAGE OF ABSTRACT
Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified
NSN 7540-01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89)
Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39-18
298-102