Flow dynamics and noise generation mechanisms in supersonic underexpanded rectangular and planar jets

In this study, large eddy simulations of two rectangular jets with different aspect ratios and one planar jet with spanwise periodic boundaries are carried out in an attempt to investigate and clarify some key issues regarding the flow dynamics and noise generation mechanisms for the screech tone. The substantial effects of the nozzle configuration on shock structures and noise are first revealed in detail. It is found that when the lateral confinement is weakened, the spacing of the shock cells increases and the jet oscillates more intensively in the minor-axis plane, increasing the noise level and altering the screeching frequency. By analyzing the pressure fluctuations of the shear layer in the wavenumber-frequency space, different kinds of waves in these supersonic jets are examined. Importantly, it is revealed that the guided jet wave should play a dominant role in closing the resonance loops rather than the acoustic wave. Moreover, the energy-containing structures with pertinent frequencies are extracted by employing the reduced-order variational mode decomposition, and some underlying flow dynamics are presented. Especially, a novel mechanism has been identified: the low-frequency stretching motions of shock cells have a significant modulation effect on the screeching amplitude in the planar jet. Furthermore, with the aid of the multi-process acoustic theory, the characteristics of physical noise sources are diagnosed, particularly the source mechanisms related to the screech tone. The general structures and distribution of the kinematic noise source Sβ and entropy noise source Se are presented. Sβ mainly exhibits a vortex-like structure near the nozzle, while Se exhibits a lamellar bilayer structure. The spatiotemporal correlations between the physical sources and far-field noise show that the dominant mechanisms for the screech tone rely on the nozzle configuration and the screech tone tends to be produced by multiple sources in all cases.