Hardwall acoustical characteristics and measurement capabilities of the NASA Lewis 9 x 15 foot low speed wind tunnel

Experimental evaluations of the acoustical characteristics and source sound power and directionality measurement capabilities of the NASA Lewis 9 x 15 foot low speed wind tunnel in the untreated or hardwall configuration were performed. The results indicate that source sound power estimates can be made using only settling chamber sound pressure measurements. The accuracy of these estimates, expressed as one standard deviation, can be improved from + or - 4 db to + or - 1 db if sound pressure measurements in the preparation room and diffuser are also used and source directivity information is utilized. A simple procedure is presented. Acceptably accurate measurements of source direct field acoustic radiation were found to be limited by the test section reverberant characteristics to 3.0 feet for omni-directional and highly directional sources. Wind-on noise measurements in the test section, settling chamber and preparation room were found to depend on the sixth power of tunnel velocity. The levels were compared with various analytic models. Results are presented and discussed.