The Missing link between Poroelasticity and Acoustic Stealth

Mattia Gazzola, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Usage Details

Owls are so quiet that a human would not hear one flying past their ear! Currently, it is believed that the owl’s astounding acoustic stealth relates to the poroelastic properties of its wings, as plumage and feathers can be considered an intricate net of fibers equivalent to an elastic and porous surface. Although this link is well accepted, the physics behind such correlations are poorly quantified and understood. Our goal is to quantitatively characterize the poroelastic flow-acoustic mechanisms underlying silent locomotion through fluids via a combination of state-of-the-art flow-structure interaction computations, acoustic simulations and evolutionary optimization techniques. These insights will enable us to design for sound by leveraging morphology, elasticity and porosity. This effort cuts across many areas of high current importance: aviation, drones, acoustic flyers detection, and quality of life in a quiet environment. Through this work, the intern will learn about aeroacoustics, HPC, stochastic optimization and how all of these relate to analyzing a real work system.