Time-domain approach for acoustic scattering of rotorcraft noise

This paper addresses acoustic scattering of rotorcraft noise in the time domain. A time-domain equivalent source method is used since it is considered to be a computationally efficient method to solve acoustic scattering. In addition, the time-domain method provides a solution for all frequencies of interest in a single computation and is able to predict the acoustic scattering of aperiodic signals. The prediction is validated against exact solutions for a monopole source. The numerical method is then used to predict acoustic scattering of noise from a BO105 tail rotor by a representative fuselage. Complex directivity patterns are seen in the near field, and a large scattering effect is observed in the far field to the side of the fuselage. The time-domain code results of sound pressure level are validated against the results obtained by a frequency-domain analysis. Finally, acoustic scattering for an impulsive noise source is investigated to simulate main rotor blade-vortex interaction noise. The scattered pressure has a comparable amplitude as that of the incident pressure so that the total pressure is dramatically changed compared to the incident pressure. For the impulsive noise, a large computational time saving is achieved compared to the frequency-domain approach, in which the computation must be repeated for each frequency.