The interaction of sound with low Mach number wall turbulence, with application to sound propagation in turbulent pipe flow

This paper discusses the influence of turbulence convection on the formation of acoustic momentum and thermal boundary layers over a rigid surface in the presence of a low Mach number wall-turbulence shear flow. Equations which determine the modified boundary-layer profiles are obtained from a consideration of the relaxation of coherent perturbations in the Reynolds stress. These equations can be solved analytically for a wide range of conditions which are investigated in detail. The theory is applied to the problem of sound propagation in fully-developed turbulent pipe flow, and at low Mach numbers good agreement is obtained between predicted acoustic attenuation rates and experimental results available in the literature.