Direct aeroacoustic simulation of acoustic feedback phenomena on a side-view mirror

The flow around a side-view mirror and its noise generation are investigated using large eddy simulation and direct acoustic simulation. To this end, we use the high order discontinuous Galerkin spectral element method on non-conforming curved elements. Tonal noise is observed, which originates at the trailing edge downstream of laminar separation, coinciding with experimental results. In order to determine the nature of the tonal noise generation mechanism, we perform a linear stability analysis and employ a global perturbation approach in combination with dynamic mode decomposition. The perturbation analysis based on the whole flow field demonstrates the existence of a global instability involving convective disturbance growth, acoustic scattering at the trailing edge and acoustic receptivity at a rounded edge slightly upstream of separation. The results clearly show the tonal noise to be caused by the so-called acoustic feedback loop known from airfoil aeroacoustics. This phenomenon has been simulated here for the first time for a complex geometry.