Aeroacoustic power generated by a compact axisymmetric cavity: prediction of self-sustained oscillation and influence of the depth

Aeroacoustic power generation due to a self-sustained oscillation by an axisymmetric compact cavity exposed to a low-Mach-number grazing flow is studied both experimentally and numerically. The feedback effect is produced by the velocity fluctuations resulting from a coupling with acoustic standing waves in a coaxial pipe. A numerical methodology that combines incompressible flow simulations with vortex sound theory is used to predict the time-averaged acoustic source power generated by the cavity. The effect of cavity depth on the whistling is addressed. It is observed that the whistling occurs around a peak-whistling Strouhal number which depends on the cavity depth to width ratio. The proposed numerical method provides excellent predictions of the peak-whistling Strouhal number as a function of cavity depth. Given the oscillation amplitude, the numerical method predicts the time-averaged acoustic source power within a factor of two for moderate fluctuation amplitudes. For deep cavities the time-averaged acoustic source power appears to be independent of the cavity depth.