New Atlas: Fin-lined nozzles could reduce jet engine noise

New Atlas highlighted an invention by aerospace engineers at the University of Cincinnati that could muffle the roar of jet engines.

The noise of jet engines presents a health risk from hearing loss for military and commercial aviation personnel. It also generates tens of millions of noise complaints at airports across the country.

UC College of Engineering and Applied Science distinguished professor Ephraim Gutmark, an Ohio Eminent Scholar, and his students designed new engine nozzles for F-18 Super Hornets in his aeroacoustics lab.

The interior of the nozzles features triangular fins like rows of shark teeth that significantly reduced jet engine noise in UC lab tests using scale-model jet engines.

The project is a collaboration between UC, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Naval Air Station Patuxent River. This fall NAVAIR will test the UC designs and performance on actual F-18 Super Hornets.

The project was funded under the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program by the U.S. Department of Defense's Environmental Research Program.

Read the New Atlas story.

Featured image at top: UC's research holds promise to reduce the health and safety impact of jet noise on commercial and military aviation. Here a flight crew aboard the USS Ronald Reagan wears ear protection while helping to launch and land F/A-18 Super Hornets. Photo/Gray Gibson/U.S. Navy