Adaptive control of aeroacoustic instabilities

This paper describes an experimental investigation of adaptive control algo rithms applied to aeroacoustic instabilities. The study is carried out on a cold how experimental rig, designed to reproduce the essential features of acoustically coupled vortex shedding. This mechanism is the source of thru st oscillations in large segmented solid rocket motors. It is also found in a wide variety of combustion instabilities. Two adaptive control strategie s are investigated and selected experimental results are reported. These re sults show the feasibility of control. The effect of the controller on the instability mechanism is analyzed and improvements to the control strategy are proposed. (C) 2000 Academic Press.