Noise-generation mechanisms of a wing-tip vortex at moderate angle of attack

An experimental and computational analysis of a wing tip at moderate angle of attack highlights the leading role of the wing-tip vortex wandering along the direction grazing the wing-tip corner in generating far-field noise. The cases of Reynolds numbers $ \textit{Re}_c=0.6\times 10^6$ and $1.0\times 10^6$ at angle of attack $\alpha =10^\circ$ are presented. The vorticity field shows the existence of a system of three wing-tip vortices that co-rotate to form a helical structure. The vortices have wandering motions that develop as they travel downstream. Surface pressure measurements indicate the unsteadiness in the primary vortex to be coherent at a chord-based Strouhal number $ \textit{St}_c\approx 9$ . The coherence between the surface pressure fluctuations and the far-field noise is the highest at the primary vortex crossover from the tip surface to the suction surface, which also occurs at $ \textit{St}_c\approx 9$ . This is supported by computational results, where the crossover position on the wing surface experiences local maxima of pressure fluctuations at $ \textit{St}_c=9$ , and the dilatation shows a wavefront emanating from the vortex crossover location. Given the downstream convection of the unsteadiness along the primary vortex, the crossover is suggested to be converting the pressure fluctuations in the vortex to acoustic waves rather than being a source of a new spectral feature. The causality correlation calculated between the surface pressure and the proper orthogonal decomposition modes of the flow field identifies the vortex kinematic modes that contribute the most to the surface pressure fluctuations at the vortex crossover.