Noise Reduction Mechanism and Spectral Scaling of Slat Gap Filler Device at Low Angle of Attack

Slat noise poses a significant challenge during aircraft landing. Slat gap filler (SGF) technology has shown promise in mitigating slat noise, yet its noise reduction mechanisms and characteristics remain unclear. This study numerically investigates the noise reduction mechanisms of SGF and analyzes its noise characteristics using the high-lift common research model (CRM-HL). The lattice Boltzmann solver simulates the unsteady flow field, and the Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings (FW-H) equation predicts far-field noise. The computed results exhibit a satisfactory concordance with experimental measurements. Furthermore, the near-field flow dynamics have been elucidated through proper orthogonal decomposition. The findings demonstrate that the SGF alters the distribution patterns of flow dynamics and pressure fluctuations, thereby effectively attenuating the mode energy. Moreover, our findings demonstrate that SGF significantly reduces slat noise. The noise reduction mechanism can be attributed to decreased surface pressure fluctuations on the leading edge of the main wing, and a shifted broadband noise peak to a lower frequency due to the enlarged slat cove flow vortex caused by SGF. Finally, a scaling analysis of the slat noise spectra indicates that the SGF noise spectra align well with baseline slat noise spectra when the characteristic length scale is determined by the vortex structure.