The Use of Helmholtz Resonators

Iain D. J. Dupe`re
in a Practical Combustor
The drive to reduce emissions has led to the development of lean premixed combustors.
Ann P. Dowling However, lean premixed combustion is often associated with combustion oscillations
which can be so severe that they can cause structural damage to the engine. Since the
Department of Engineering,
associated frequencies are typically of the order of hundreds of Hertz, there is a need for
University of Cambridge,
a compact device to absorb the noise which drives the oscillation. Helmholtz resonators
Cambridge CB2 1PZ, United Kingdom
are commonly used as absorbers of incident acoustic power. In addition they are relatively
compact. However, their use in combustors creates practical issues, such as placement
within the chamber, neck length, and cooling, which need to be addressed. In this paper
we consider these practical problems and describe how to overcome them in a real
combustor. DOI: 10.1115/1.1806838

1 Introduction and his co-workers for each flow regime separately. In the pres-
ence of a tangential mean flow the convecting vorticity can also
Low NOx combustion can be achieved using lean premixed
interact with the downstream edge of the aperture and generate
systems. Here the temperature is more evenly distributed and the
sound. This can be overcome by rounding the downstream edge or
peak temperature lower, leading to low NOx production. Unfortu- by combining the tangential flow with cooling through the neck.
nately, low NOx combustors are often associated with combustion Finally we draw some conclusions.
instabilities which can be so severe that structural damage to the
engine occurs. Helmholtz resonators are commonly used to damp
incident acoustic waves in a number of applications see, for ex-
ample 1 6. Helmholtz resonators have the advantage that they 2 Practical Helmholtz Resonators
require a relatively small volume to damp oscillations at the rela- 2.1 Introduction. Helmholtz resonators consist of a cham-
tively low frequencies found in combustion systems and thus pro- ber and a neck as illustrated in Fig. 1. Oscillation occurs when the
vide a useful damping mechanism for combustion oscillation mass of gas in the neck vibrates against the gas in the chamber.
1,3. In order to control oscillations, they must communicate with They can simply consist of a perforation in a plate above the
the combustor itself. This places practical constraints upon their chamber 8, the end correction acting as the neck. In the absence
design, limiting their performance. of a mean flow, absorption of incident sound is related to the
The need to incorporate the Helmholtz resonator so that it can nonlinear viscous damping of the flow in the neck region, and the
communicate with the combustion chamber places strong con- absorption is only significant near resonance. This mechanism ul-
straints upon the aperture size, neck length, and volume of the timately ensures that the neck velocity remains finite. Further-
Helmholtz resonator. In particular, the neck length needs to be more, a significant proportion of the incident sound energy will
relatively long and this results in a compromise between the ab- only be absorbed at high acoustic amplitudes. This phenomenon
sorption obtained at the peak and the frequency range over which can be modeled by an appropriate nonlinear model such as pro-
significant absorption is obtained. A systematic approach for posed by Cummings 7. A similar model applied to Helmholtz
choosing the parameters is developed and described in this paper. resonators was successfully used by Bellucci et al. 1.
We also consider the case of a neck which is long in comparison In the presence of a mean flow incident acoustic waves cause
with the wavelength and its practical use in an engine. unsteady vortex waves to be shed at the edges of the aperture
We consider two types of configuration: no mean flow and with which is swept away by the mean flow. This convecting vorticity
a mean flow. The mean flow may be either tangential across the acts as a sink to the incident sound near the upstream edge.
face of the aperture or be like a cooling flow through the aperture. In this paper, we consider the acoustic response of an idealized
A combination of a cooling flow with a tangential flow is also system consisting of a resonator chamber connected to a pipe
possible. The no flow case is associated with nonlinear absorption containing incident sound energy via an aperture. The problem
of sound which depends upon the amplitude of the neck pressure, can be separated into three features: the acoustic properties of the
which in turn depends upon the incident acoustic energy, the com- combustion chamber, the local absorption due to a finite pressure
bustor geometry, and the location of the neck. We describe this difference between the pipe and the Helmholtz resonator chamber,
regime by using a model developed by Cummings 7 for the and the enhancement of the absorption due to resonance. When
nonlinear behavior of an aperture and compare our results with an the neck of the Helmholtz resonator consists of an aperture in a
experiment, obtaining good agreement. pipe wall connecting it to the resonator chamber, the local absorp-
In the presence of a mean flow the absorption coefficient is tion is characterized by the Rayleigh conductivity. This was de-
linear i.e., independent of neck pressure and associated with the rived by Howe and his co-workers for mean flow both through the
convection of unsteadily shed vorticity from the neck of the reso- aperture 9 and for tangential flow across it 10. A correction is
nator. However, it still depends upon the combustor geometry and required for the finite wall thickness. Howes model has been used
the location of the neck. Both tangential and cooling flows are extensively in the literature to model the interaction between
modeled by using a Rayleigh conductivity first derived by Howe sound and mean flow in a wide variety of applications, including
Helmholtz resonators 2,4 6,1117.
Contributed by the International Gas Turbine Institute IGTI of THE AMERICAN In a practical system, space will often prevent Helmholtz reso-
SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS for publication in the ASME JOURNAL OF nators from being attached to the region of interest via a short
ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER. Paper presented at the Interna-
tional Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exhibition, Atlanta, GA, June
neck. We consider, therefore, practical resonators with notable
16 19, 2003, Paper No. 2003-GT-38429. Manuscript received by IGTI, October physical lengths. Initially the Rayleigh conductivity for the neck is
2002, final revision, March 2003. Associate Editor: H. R. Simmons. assumed to be a known complex quantity i .

268 Vol. 127, APRIL 2005 Copyright 2005 by ASME Transactions of the ASME

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 Fig. 1 An illustration of a real Helmholtz resonator attached to a pipe

Consider the system illustrated in Fig. 1. This consists of an

infinitely long pipe of cross-sectional area S 1 , to which a Helm-
holtz resonator chamber is attached at x0 via a neck of effective

p 1 u 1 i l
V
c 2 S c
u 1 u 1
2
(6)

length l and area S 2 . An incident sound wave, whose complex For low amplitudes, the nonlinear real part of the right-hand side
amplitude is A at x0, propagates along the pipe from left to right of Eq. 6 is small and so little absorption of sound energy occurs.
from x to x0. A second incident acoustic wave, with com- The imaginary part then gives resonance at the frequency given by
plex amplitude D, propagates from right to left from x to classical theory.
x0. At x0, a right propagating wave, of complex amplitude C, Nonlinear equation 6 is solved numerically for the acoustic
is generated by the combination of transmission of wave A and velocity, u 1 , for a given neck pressure amplitude, p 1 , which can
reflection of wave D. Similarly a left propagating wave, of com- also be related to the downstream waves C and D using Eq. 3.
plex amplitude B, is generated in the left-hand part of the pipe. In u 1 can be related to the incident acoustic velocities by considering
addition unsteady flow of speed u HR and mass flow m HR enters the conservation of acoustic mass flow, i.e.,

the Helmholtz resonator through the neck and a low Mach number
which may be zero mean flow flows along the pipe from left to AB CD
A 1 Su 1 A 1 (7)
right. We neglect viscous effects, except at the opening. c c
We begin by equating the change of mass inside the chamber to
the unsteady neck flow: Equation 7 together with Eq. 3 can be solved to give the inci-
dent and reflected waves A and B.
2 Equations 3 and 7 together with equation 6 are used to
V ,i V 2 S 2 u HR
S 2 u HR (1) predict the four acoustic waves, A, B, C and D, for a range of
t
sound pressure levels. We present our results in terms of the ab-
for harmonic excitation of angular frequency . If we further sorption coefficient, defined as the fraction of incident energy
assume that the unsteady flow inside the resonator chamber is which is absorbed, since we are interested in absorption,

isentropic, then we can relate the fluctuating resonator chamber
pressure, p 2 , to the fluctuating density, 2 , and hence to the neck B2C2
i.e., 1 (8)
velocity via Eq. 1 to give A2D2
S2
u HR Sample results are shown in Fig. 2 which is for a neck pressure
p 2 c 2 2 (2)
iV of 165 dB which also shows comparison with experimental mea-
surements. The experimental arrangement is described in the Ap-
The acoustic pressure waves on either side of the resonator are pendix. The agreement between the theory and the experiment is
related from energy or momentum considerations by good. Although much of the literature on Helmholtz resonators is
A 1M B 1M C 1M D 1M (3) concerned with predicting the resonant frequency see, for ex-
ample, Chanaud 11,12, a number of other studies have also
The behavior of the neck is linear in the presence of a mean found good agreement with experiment for the amplitude response
flow, but nonlinear with no mean flow. We consider the nonlinear 1,4 6,1317. At the peak 65% of the incident sound is ab-
behavior first. sorbed. Even at 135 dB the peak absorption is between 50% and
2.1.1 Non-Linear Theory. Following Cummings 7 the 60% depending upon the configuration. However, the absorption
characteristics include a distinct minimum. This results from a
acoustic velocity, u 1 is given by
pressure node at the neck of the Helmholtz resonator. This has two
u 1 c effects. The first, and most obvious, is that the sound pressure
p 1 p 2 l u 1 u 1 (4) levels found in practice will be low near this frequency. Second,
t 2
when the unsteady pressures nearly cancel at the neck of the reso-
c nator, specific neck pressure levels can only be achieved with
i lu 1 u u (5) large incident sound waves. The unsteady velocity into the reso-
2 1 1
nator, u 1 , however, is solely a function of this neck pressure
where l is the effective length of the Helmholtz resonator neck and amplitude see Eq. 6 and so will not be affected by the presence
c is the discharge coefficient describing the nonlinear behavior of of the node. Thus the actual amount of energy absorbed is purely
the neck. Both the effective neck length, l, and the discharge co- a function of the neck pressure and the behavior of the resonator.
efficient, c, are determined experimentally. Substituting for p 2 The incident acoustic energy, and thus the fraction of energy
into equation 5, which is absorbed, however, also depend upon the amplitude of

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 Fig. 2 Comparison between the measured and predicted ab- Fig. 4 The predicted absorption coefficient as a function of
sorption coefficient as a function of frequency for an incident frequency for a range of incident sound pressure amplitudes
sound pressure amplitude of 165 dB with a closed end. ex- from 120 to 185 dB with increments of 5 dB. The lowest graph
perimental measurement, theory. is for 120 dB.

the incident waves required to generate the neck pressure. Thus 2.1.2 Linear Theory. To quantify the unsteady mass flow
when the neck is situated near to a pressure null, the fraction of rate into the Helmholtz resonator we relate it to the fluctuating
acoustic energy which is absorbed will always be small. pressure difference across the neck via the Rayleigh conductivity
To confirm the effect of the node, comparison is made in Fig. 3 defined as
between the predicted and measured absorption for a different p 1 p 2 i S 2 u HR
(9)
configuration with an open end. The symbols represent the mea-
sured values and the solid line represents the predicted behavior. where is a complex quantity which we choose to write as
Here the minimum shifts to a frequency of 350 Hz. i , following Howe 9,10. represents the inertance of the
Figure 4 summarizes the effect of amplitude, showing the pre- neck and is related to the effective length of the neck. relates to
dicted absorption coefficients as a function of frequency for sound the reactance of the neck or opening and thus to any generation
pressure levels of between 120 and 185 dB, in steps of 5 dB. With or absorption of acoustical energy e.g., by vortex shedding
a sound pressure level at the neck of 120 dB, absorption occurs associated with the neck. The negative sign is used so that positive
only over a very narrow frequency range and the maximum ab- relates to absorption of sound.
sorption coefficient is less than 10%. There is a minimum in ab- Since the resonator chamber pressure is related to this acoustic
sorption at a frequency of about 275 Hz, corresponding to the
velocity via Eq. 2 we can rewrite Eq. 9 as an equation for u HR
frequency at which there is a pressure node at the opening, at all in terms of the acoustic pressure above the neck, p 1 , as follows:

amplitudes, as discussed above. As a result there are two maxima
in absorption either side of the node. p 1 i

u HR (10)
i S 2 i i c 2 2 S 2 / V
All acoustic energy absorbed or generated is associated with the
mean acoustical energy flux into the resonator via the neck.
i.e., absorption p 1 u HR
S2
The acoustical pressure p 1 describes the amplitude of the inci-
dent acoustic waves and the mode shape of the pipe or combus-
tion chamber to which the resonator is attached. We take this as
our reference and therefore suppose its phase to be zero. Thus
contributes to the generation or absorp-
only the real part of u HR
tion of acoustical energy.
Evaluating the real part of Eq. 10 we have

p 1
R u HR S2
S 2 2
2 2 (11)

where
c 22S 2
(12)
V
giving an absorption

Fig. 3 Comparison between the measured and predicted ab-
sorption coefficient as a function of frequency for an incident p 1 2 S 22
sound pressure amplitude of 170 dB with an open end. ex- (13)
perimental measurements, theory. 2 2 S 2 2

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 Fig. 6 A graph showing the variation of absorption coefficient
Fig. 5 The variation of acoustic absorption coefficient with with frequency for three different mean aperture velocities, for
frequency for a Helmholtz resonator with a sound pressure a practical Helmholtz resonator with a finite neck length
level at the neck opening of 155 dB and in the presence of a
mean pipe flow Mach number of 0.04. theory, 145 dB,
" 150 dB, 155 dB.
however, the large neck velocities enhance the absorption. As
increases, noticeable absorption occurs over a broader range of
frequencies. However, at resonance the effect of the increased
Comparison between theory and experimental measurements of
local absorption is to suppress resonance, reducing the peak
the absorption obtained by this mechanism is shown in Fig. 5 for
absorption. This is illustrated in Fig. 6, which shows the variation
a sample cross flow Mach number of 0.04. Here the Rayleigh
in absorption coefficient of one Helmholtz resonator at three dif-
conductivity used for the predictions is taken from Howes model
ferent flow conditions. All configurations are for mean flow
10. Similar results have also been obtained for a cooling flow
through the aperture. The volume of the resonator chamber is
and a combination of a cooling flow and a cross flow also from
chosen to give peak absorption at 500 Hz for the lowest neck
Howes model and were presented in a previous paper 18. The
velocity, which has the greatest peak absorption. The Rayleigh
absorption is shown for a variety of amplitudes of unsteady pres-
conductivity used in the calculations to produce Fig. 6 is from
sure at the neck and shown to have little effect on the overall
Howe et al.s solution for an aperture in an infinitely thin plate
absorption, which is reasonably high here. As before the minimum
10, as before, with a correction applied to account for the physi-
absorption occurs when the resonator neck is near a pipe node.
cal length of the neck. Since the Rayleigh conductivity, and in
Notice that at this temperature and with a relatively short neck the
particular, is a function of Strouhal number and hence frequency,
absorption is high and occurs over a broad range of frequencies.
the frequency at which peak absorption occurs varies slightly be-
This ceases to be the case at higher temperatures and with long
tween the three configurations. This has not been compensated for
necks as would be required if it were to be implemented in a real
here since the magnitude of the absorption depends upon ,
combustion chamber. The practical implications of this are dis-
which is itself a function of the volume. Nevertheless, it is clear
cussed below.
from Fig. 6 that increasing gives absorption over a broader
2.2 Discussion. For low amplitude sound waves in the ab- range of frequencies, but at the expense of peak absorption. This
sence of a mean flow, the Rayleigh conductivity of the neck is has strong consequences for the use of Helmholtz resonators in
purely imaginary i.e., 0, leading to the denominator of Eq. combustion systems. If the resonators are to have a significant
13 being purely imaginary and becomes zero when effect in damping the oscillations, then it is essential that they are

attached to the combustion chamber itself. However, the high tem-
peratures in the combustion chamber result in complicated liners
S 2 , i.e., when c 2 (14)
V and a cooling system. As a result the neck of the Helmholtz reso-
nator will often have to be several centimeters long. The damping
Since S 2 /l e f f ecti v e , the familiar formula for the resonant
described by Fig. 6 suggests that this limits the overall perfor-
frequency of a Helmholtz resonator is recovered. Here the un-
mance of the resonator, leaving the designer to choose the balance
steady flow velocity into the Helmholtz resonator is large, and
between the maximum absorption achieved and the frequency
nonlinear effects become important. This limits the velocity and
range over which this absorption occurs. Unfortunately, the cur-
leads to some sound absorption, as described above. In the pres-
rent understanding of the instability does not presently give an a
ence of a mean flow, however, has a nonzero value, leading to
priori estimate of the amount of absorption required.
absorption away from resonance. Since the imaginary part of the
The other factors which appear in Eq. 15 are ; the sound
denominator in Eq. 13 can still be set to zero at the frequency
speed in the Helmholtz resonator chamber, c 2 ; the volume of the
defined by Eq. 14, this might be supposed to enhance the ab-
Helmholtz resonator chamber, V; the mean density, ; and the
sorption for modest . When this occurs Eq. 13 becomes
acoustic pressure above the aperture, p 1 . describes the inertance

absorption

p 1 2 3/2V 1/2
c2
(15)
of the aperture per unit area and is large for large radius and short
neck length. In common with , is proportional to the aperture
diameter. Since has a higher power in Eq. 15 than , the
since S 2 . It is clear from Eq. 15 that the absorption at the absorption increases with aperture size. The absorption is in-
conventional resonance frequency is inversely proportional to . versely proportional to the sound speed and so we require a small
This occurs because describes the local absorption of the neck sound speed, and thus a low temperature in the Helmholtz reso-
irrespective of its acoustics environment. For very small but finite nator chamber for high absorption. The volume of the resonator
, there is a little absorption at most frequencies. Near resonance, chamber, V, is constrained to give resonance at the desired fre-

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 quency by Eq. 14. However, since the resonant frequency is 2.3.2 Case 2. This occurs for modest mean flow velocities
related to /V, the volume must also increase as increases to and aperture diameters. The first term in Eq. 17 is not significant
keep the resonant frequency constant. The increased volume also for case 2, since is small when 2 S 2 . The second term in
increases the absorption. The mean density, , affects both the Eq. 17 depends upon the range of frequencies for which is
incident sound and the absorption equally and so has no effect close to its maximum. When this range is small, then the only
upon the proportion of incident sound which is absorbed. The significant contributor to this term is when 2 S 2 and is
acoustic pressure above the aperture, p 1 , is determined by the small. Then the term evaluates to (p 1 2 / ) /4 as for case 1.
incident sound energy and the mode shape in the pipe or combus- When this range is large, however, ( 2 S 2 )/ can be large
tion chamber containing the incident sound waves. and negative and so this term can be as large as (p 1 2 / ) /2 for
The requirements for good acoustic performance, defined as large . As for case 1 this term is greatest for a short neck
high absorption over as wide a frequency range as possible, are length and a large aperture diameter. It is also worth noting that
therefore summarized as large aperture, large volume, short neck the total acoustic energy absorption over a range of frequencies is
and low temperature. One might also be interested, however, in less dependent upon a frequency range than is the case for case 1.
the total amount of absorption over the entire frequency range of This implies that if the overall absorption over a range of frequen-
interest. This is considered next. cies is the same for two arrangements, one for case 1 and one for
2.3 The Total Energy Absorbed. The total amount of case 2, the acoustic absorption at any given frequency will be
acoustic energy absorbed over a range of frequencies 1 to 2 greatest for case 2.
can be determined by multiplying Eq. 13 by S 2 and integrating 2.3.3 Case 3. This occurs for small mean aperture velocities
with respect to : and large aperture diameters. As for case 2, the first term in Eq.

Total absorption 1
2
p 1 R u S 2 d I
17 will not be significant since is small when 2 S 2 . The
second term in Eq. 17 has small for most of the frequency
range and so will be (p 1 2 / ) /2. Once again, overall absorp-

tion is improved with a short neck length and a large aperture
2 p 1 2 S 22 diameter. Unlike cases 1 and 2, however, increasing the aperture
d (16)
1 2 2 S 2 2 diameter brings the conditions nearer to the limit described by
case 3. Indeed the diameter is only restricted by the condition that
If and are assumed to have constant values over this fre- the aperture diameter be small in comparison with the wavelength.
quency range, Eq. 16 can be solved directly to give It is notable that the most significant factors in determining the

total amount of energy absorbed over a range of frequencies are
p 1 2 p 1 2 the relative positions of the frequency for peak and the resonant
I ln 2 2 2 S 2 2 2
4 1 2 frequency of the Helmholtz resonator, and the range of frequen-
cies chosen. The absolute magnitude of is only important in

tan1
2S 2
2

1
(17)
determining the overall absorption for the first term in Eq. 17
which is only significant when the frequency at which is maxi-
mum occurs for 2 S 2 , i.e., for case 1. The second term in
where Eq. 17 is nearly independent of and depends nearly exclu-
sively on the range of frequencies and the relative positions of the
c 22S 2 two optimum frequencies.
(18)
V
2.4 The Resonant Frequency for Large Local Damping.
Over the full frequency range, 0 to , and will vary, In the discussion, so far, the local absorption by the aperture, for a
and so Eq. 17 cannot be used to evaluate the overall acoustic given fluctuating pressure difference across it, has been assumed
energy absorption directly. However, since it is valid for all fre- to have been small i.e., has been assumed small. However, for
quency ranges for which and can be considered constant, it sufficiently large aperture diameters near the optimum Strouhal
can be used to give a piecewise estimate of the overall absorption. number, can become significant. This is particularly true in prac-
We consider three cases: maximum for 2 S 2 case 1, tical systems where the physical length of the neck can be non-
maximum for 2 S 2 case 2 and maximum for 2 S 2 negligible and so is small. It is worth noting, therefore, the
case 3. Since 2 S 2 at the resonant frequency of effect this has on the frequency at which maximum absorption is
the Helmholtz resonator in the absence of a mean flow, and maxi- achieved. Since absorption is proportional to the real part of the
mum occurs when the local absorption is maximum; these con- unsteady velocity, this frequency can be obtained by differentiat-
ditions correspond to the three possibilities for the relative posi- ing Eq. 13 with respect to for constant and and equating
tions of maximum local absorption and the no flow resonant to zero. This gives

frequency of the Helmholtz resonator.
p 1 2 S 22 4 2S 2 2 3 2 2 2
2.3.1 Case 1. This occurs when the mean flow speed asso-
S2 (19)
2 2 2S 2 2 2
ciated with the aperture is large and the aperture diameter is small.
The first term in Eq. 17 is only significant when the 2 S 2 Equating to zero and solving the quadratic equation we have

and is proportional to . Since is maximum in this range
for case 1, the first term is maximum for case 1. In practice, 4 2 3 2
res c 2 (20)
r for fixed mean flow speed and frequency, where r is the V
radius of the aperture. Hence greatest absorption is achieved if the
Note that this reduces to the no flow result in the limit 0.
limit is achieved with a large aperture mean velocity rather than
Equation 20 can be substituted into Eq. 11 to give the peak
with a small aperture diameter. The second term in Eq. 17 is also
absorption:
only significant when 2 S 2 . Since is significant in this
range, the second term evaluates to (p 1 2 / ) /4. describes the
aperture inertance, and is greatest for a small neck length. Like ,
is proportional to r and so large diameter apertures are benefi-
p 1 2 1/2

V 4 2 3 2 3/2
4c 2 2 2 2 4 2 3 2
(21)

cial. This reduces to

272 Vol. 127, APRIL 2005 Transactions of the ASME

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 Fig. 7 An illustration of a side-branch resonator with an arbitrary base attached to
a pipe

p 1 2 V 1/2 3/2 will have no effect. Since their presence changes the boundary
absorption (22) conditions this can be the case even if a node does not exist at that
4c 2 S 2
position when there are no resonators in place and is in fact al-
when . This differs by a factor of 4 from the peak absorption ways the case. More than one Helmholtz resonator can be used to
given by Eq. 15. This occurs because in the limit 0, the avoid this and then the circumferential spacing required would
greatest absorption becomes infinite and is not a formal maxi- depend upon the order of the circumferential mode.
mum. The formal maximum occurs at a slightly higher frequency
where the absorption is lower. It has already been noted, however, 3 Side Branch Resonators
that absorption occurs over a narrow band of frequencies in this
limit. Broadband absorption occurs in the limit /. In this Although Helmholtz resonators are a compact way to absorb at
limit the frequency from Eq. 20 becomes a particular frequency, it was shown above that a compromise is

set up between obtaining high absorption at the peak and obtain-
1/2
ing absorption over a range of frequencies. This problem can be
res c 2 3 1/4 (23) overcome by using a side branch resonator where space permits.
V
Consider the geometry illustrated in Fig. 7. Two incident sound
and the absorption becomes waves, one with complex amplitude A propagating from left to
1/2 right in the left-hand portion of the pipe, and one propagating
absorptionp 1 V 1/2 (24) from right to left with complex amplitude D in the right-hand
4c 2 portion of the pipe, propagate along an infinite pipe of cross-
Thus for large damping the amplitude of the peak absorption sectional area S 1 towards x0. At x0, y0; both pipes are
increases with . In practice, however, the absorption predicted by attached to a side branch of length l and area S 3 via an aperture of
Eq. 24 is small except for very large volumes and such large area S 2 and Rayleigh conductivity . Through a combination of
aperture diameters that the assumption that the aperture is com- reflection and transmission of incident waves A and D, two out-
pact becomes invalid. going waves B, propagating from right to left in the left-hand part
of the pipe, and C, propagating from left to right in the right-hand
2.5 Conclusions. In practical systems, physical constraints portion of the pipe are generated. As before a mean flow of low
imposed by the system to be damped can have a strong effect Mach number which may be zero flows from left to right along
upon the performance of Helmholtz resonators. A reliable damper the pipe. An acoustic wave of complex amplitude E propagates in
would be one which provides high absorption over a large range the negative y-direction towards yl where it is reflected to
of frequencies, with high absorption at the peak frequency. This give a second acoustic wave of complex amplitude F towards y
requires a short neck, a large aperture diameter, a large resonator 0. The complex amplitudes A, B, C, D, E and F are all refer-
chamber volume, and a low temperature within the resonator. In enced to x0, y0. The factor e i t is suppressed throughout.
addition the resonator should be positioned as near to an acoustic At the end of the side branch i.e., at y1 an arbitrary bound-
anti-node as possible. In practice all these factors are constrained. ary exists which could be a solid wall, an open end, a chamber, or
As a result designers have a trade off between high absorption at some other boundary. The viscous effects are ignored everywhere
the peak and broadband absorption. This trade off can be con- except in determining the Rayleigh conductivity of the aperture.
trolled via the mean flow speed through the aperture. In designing In a practical system, the infinite pipe could be replaced with a
Helmholtz resonators, designers should first choose as large an finite length pipe by relating waves C and D via a reflection co-
aperture diameter, as short a neck length, and as low a resonator efficient at the end of the pipe.
chamber temperature as physical constraints permit. Second, they The acoustic velocity entering the side-branch, u SB , is related
should choose the volume of the Helmholtz resonator to give reso- to the pressure difference across the aperture via the Rayleigh
nance at the required frequency. Third, the mean velocity through conductivity:
the aperture is chosen to set the Strouhal number of the aperture.
The absorption should be calculated at this stage to check that the p 1 EF i S 3 u SB
(25)
absorption is both broadband and significant. If space will allow,
For an arbitrary reflection at yl we define the reflection
multiple Helmholtz resonators positioned around the circumfer-
coefficient R as FRE. Hence
ence can be used to extend the bandwidth for absorption. Where
circumferential modes are important, as is often the case in com- p 1
bustors, circular symmetry means that with only one Helmholtz E (26)
1R i 1R
resonator, it is always possible to have a pressure node at the neck
of the Helmholtz resonator and when this is the case the resonator and

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u SB
EF
c 1

p 1 1R
1R i 1R
(27)
absorption and high peak absorption. In designing an absorber,
therefore, designers should first try to arrange for the neck length
to be as short as possible and for the aperture size to be as large as
where possible. The volume is then chosen to give maximum absorption
at the required frequency. The Strouhal number of the neck flow is
p 1 S3 chosen to give the desired balance between broadband absorption
p 1 , and high peak absorption. Where space allows, multiple resona-
c 1 c 2
tors should be used and spaced around the combustor in order to
Equation 27 relates the unsteady velocity into the side branch, increase the bandwidth. This is also beneficial since with only one
, to the local acoustic pressure, p 1 , and the acoustic proper-
u SB Helmholtz resonator the change in the mode shape will result in a
ties of the aperture characterized by the Rayleigh conductivity, pressure node at the resonator neck resulting in no damping.
and the reflection coefficient, R. Absorption or generation of Side branch resonators provide an alternative absorber, but
,
acoustic energy is related to that part of the acoustic velocity, u SB these take up a great deal of space and have a number of frequen-
180 deg out of phase or in phase for generation with the local cies in which the absorption drops to zero.
acoustic pressure, p 1 . As for the conventional Helmholtz resona-
tors, we assume that p 1 is entirely real and take the real part of the Acknowledgments
velocity. Taking RR 0 (cos()i sin()) and i ,

The work contained in this paper was sponsored by Rolls

u SB Royce plc. as part of the ESPR project under the guidance of Bryn
2R 2 2 1R 20 2R 0 cos 1R 20 Jones. We are also grateful to Dr. Ivor Day for his help in the
p 1 design of the experiment.
(28)
where Nomenclature
2 2 2 1R 20 2R 0 cos 2 1R 20 2R 0 cos A, B, C complex amplitude of acoustic waves
D, E, F complex amplitude of acoustic waves
4 R 0 sin 2 R 20 1 (29) M Mach numberU /c in the pipe
1
This simplifies when R 0 1: R reflection coefficient

S cross-sectional area

R

u SB
p 1

cos 1
denominator
(30)
U
V
c



velocity
volume of resonator chamber
speed of sound, discharge coefficient
where denominator 2 2 1cos 2 1cos p pressure
positive real function
2 sin ) real part of Rayleigh conductivity
negative imaginary part of Rayleigh conductivity
Notice that since cos1, and ( S 2 / c 2 ) and the denomi-
Rayleigh conductivity
nator ( 2 ) are always positive, Eq. 30 is always negative for fluid density
a positive , i.e., the side-branch resonator with simple reflection angular frequency
at yl always absorbs when there is absorption at y0. In con-
trast with the Helmholtz resonators, however, the denominator of Subscripts
Eq. 30 can become zero even in the presence of absorption at the
neck because of the phase difference between the acoustic waves 1 pipe
E and F resulting from the length of the side branch. As the 2 aperture
denominator tends to zero the real part of acoustic velocity into 3 side branch
the side branch rises. This gives rise to increased absorption. The Superscripts
absorption cannot be greater than the incident sound energy, how-
ever, and, so, as the acoustic velocity rises, the resonator responds mean value
by enforcing a node near the aperture. In practice, however, the perturbation
numerator also becomes zero when
Appendix: Experimental Arrangement
cos 1 (31)
Figure 8 shows an illustration of the experimental set up used.
and so overall best absorption is achieved for small so that the The pressure oscillation between 50 and 500 Hz is provided by
denominator vanishes near cos1. Small requires a large pumping air through a rotary valve. The flow rate of air through
sound speed and thus a large temperature and a low side tube the main pipe is measured with a flow meter. The Helmholtz reso-
area, which has an adverse affect on the area over which sound is nator consists of a nylon cylinder of radius 62 mm bounded by a
absorbed. As a result, side tube resonators are likely to be re- nylon cylinder at one end and a metal plate at the other. The metal
stricted in their range of absorption as the absorption will drop to plate has a 12.5 mm diameter circular aperture at the center which
zero near cos1 and it is difficult to arrange for the denomi- separates it from the test pipe. The plate is flat on the side of the
nator to become zero and thus obtain the maximum absorption at nylon cylinder, but curved on the other side so that it smoothly
frequencies greatly removed from this minimum. Side branch meets the test pipe. The volume of the resonator chamber is varied
resonators also have the disadvantage that they require a much by adjusting the position of the piston between 5 and 20 cm from
greater volume to absorb at the required frequency than is the case the metal plate. The aperture has sharp edges.
for Helmholtz resonators. The acoustic waves upstream and downstream of the resonator
are measured using three kulites in each section of the pipe and
4 Conclusions applying the two microphone technique of Seybert and Ross 19.
In this paper, we have discussed the effects of practical con- The kulites are also calibrated in the way suggested by Seybert
straints on the acoustic performance of absorbers. It has been and Ross 19. Two additional kulites, one below the resonator
shown that the need for high temperatures and long necks for neck and one in the resonator chamber, are also used to measure
Helmholtz resonators leads to a compromise between broadband p 1 and p 2 , respectively.

274 Vol. 127, APRIL 2005 Transactions of the ASME

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