High-Fidelity Simulations of Noise Generation in a Propeller-Driven Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

High-fidelity simulations of the unsteady flow and radiated noise of an unmanned aerial vehicle's propeller are presented herein. The aim of this study is to capture the broad-band noise associated with both the propeller and its wake. The current results are found to be in good agreement with several data, including the thrust generated, the unsteady flow structure, as well as the radiated sound spectra and directivity. This study focuses on understanding the physics of the turbulence-generated noise and how it propagates to the acoustic near and far fields. This is analyzed by computing the dilatation field, the Lighthill's stress tensor, as well as each term in the Ffowcs-Williams–Hawking's integral solution of the far field.