The flow reversal chamber is a commonly used element in practical silencer design. To lower its fundamental eigenfrequency, it is suggested to acoustically short circuit the inlet and outlet duct. In the low frequency limit such a configuration will correspond to a Helmholtz resonator, but with a choked flow through the short circuit, the main flow will be forced through the expansion volume.
For the proposed concept, the flow reversal resonator, a theoretical model is derived and presented together with transfer matrix simulations. The possible extension to a semi active device as well as the influence of mean flow on the system is investigated experimentally. Finally the concept is implemented on a truck silencer.
The results indicate that the flow reversal resonator would prove an interesting complement to traditional side branch resonators. The attenuation bandwidth is broader and it can be packaged very efficiently. Mean flow effects are still an issue and should be studied further.