Stochastic Noise Sources for Computational Aeroacoustics of a Vehicle Side Mirror

The broadband aeroacoustics of a side mirror is investigated with a stochastic noise source method and compared to scale-resolving simulations. The setup based on an already existing work includes two geometrical variants with a plain series side mirror and a modified mirror with a forward-facing step mounted on the inner side. The aeroacoustic near- and farfield is computed by a hydrodynamic–acoustic splitting approach by means of a perturbed convective wave equation. Aeroacoustic source terms are computed by the Fast Random Particle-Mesh method, a stochastic noise source method modeling velocity fluctuations in time domain based on time-averaged turbulence statistics. Three RANS models are used to provide input data for the Fast Random Particle-Mesh method with fundamental differences in local flow phenomena. Results of aeroacoustics simulations excited by the Fast Random Particle-Mesh method based on well-matching RANS data are in good agreement to the scale-resolving simulations in the integral acoustic Delta on the side window induced by the different side mirror geometries. For relative levels in between the variations, the robustness of the Fast Random Particle-Mesh method can be shown with secondary influences on the choice of the integral length scale. Absolute levels are only achieved with an adaptation of the length scale from literature. Two different RANS models with a missing separation bubble on the mirror or an overestimated wake flow show a good agreement with the plain series side mirror. However, they fail at computing the Delta to the step variant due to the missing amplification of the local turbulent kinetic energy interacting with the step and downstream mirror surfaces. Computational aeroacoustics simulations excited by the Fast Random Particle-Mesh method method based on RANS data only needs 14% of the computational effort compared to the conventional hybrid RANS-LES approach. This reveals its enormous potential for aeroacoustic broadband noise optimization purposes.