Abstract:
The characteristics of flow, vibration and noise were investigated experimentally for multidisciplinary design and multi-field loads evaluation of internal weapon bays. The self-sustained oscillations, which not only induce noise load, but also pose a potential threat to the structure, and seriously affect engineering applications of internal weapons bay. The interaction of flow, vibration and noise in the internal weapons bay plays an important role during the weapon release from the aircraft. The integrated simulation of multi-field loads provides an access to the flight effect evaluation and optimal design of the weapons bay. In the present study, similarity criteria of the incoming flow conditions, geometric and structural parameters were analyzed based on the similarity principle, and wind tunnel experiments were performed to simulate the coupling of flow, vibration and noise in the weapons bay. Experimental techniques including equipments and analysis methods were established to measure and resolve the multi-field loads. The time-resolved synchronous measurements of the flow structure, noise load and vibration response were conducted under subsonic, transonic and supersonic conditions. Results show that the coupling of flow-induced vibration and noise load can be enhanced by the unsteady cavity flow. Spectral analysis of the noise shows a significant effect of the multi-field loads on the structural vibration, especially when the peak frequency of the noise spectrum is close to the natural frequency of the structure. The structural vibration is enhanced near the coupling frequency, and energy of the noise spectrum is also enhanced with an increase of the overall sound pressure level inside the weapons bay.