Resonant mode characterisation of a cylindrical Helmholtz cavity excited by a shear layer

This paper investigates the interaction between the shear-layer over a circular cavity with a relatively small opening and the flow-excited acoustic response of the volume within to shear-layer instability modes. Within the fluid-resonant category of cavity oscillation, most research has been conducted on rectangular geometries: generally restricted to longitudinal standing waves, or when cylindrical: to Helmholtz resonance. In practical situations, however, where the cavity is subject to a range of flow speeds, many different resonant mode types may be excited. The current work presents a cylindrical cavity design where Helmholtz oscillation, longitudinal resonance, and azimuthal acoustic modes may all be excited upon varying the flow speed. Experiments performed show how lock-on between each of the three fluid-resonances and shear-layer instability modes can be generated. A circumferential array of microphones flush-mounted with the internal surface of the cavity wall was used to decompose the acoustic pressure field into acoustic modes and has verified the excitation of higher order azimuthal modes by the shear-layer. For azimuthal modes especially, the location of the cavity opening affects the pressure response. A numerical solution is validated and provides additional insight and will be applied to more complex aeronautical and automotive geometries in the future.