This technology exploits the capabilities of additive manufacturing to attenuate the fan noise within the inlet or aft duct of a turbofan engine. The approach may be expanded to include auxiliary power units, environmental control systems, or other cooling systems requiring noise attenuation.

The acoustic liner consists of multiple paths to provide passive destructive interference. The passages apply an out-of-phase sound field to incoming sound waves, destructively canceling the energy, creating a reduction in overall sound level in the duct. Additive manufacturing techniques may be used to manufacture the complex pattern of passages that is not feasible using current manufacturing techniques.

The liner is conceptually constructed from cubicle building blocks of a straight-through passage and a right-angle passage. These blocks can be stacked and nested to produce passages of various lengths from two block widths to an indefinite number. These configurations can then be arranged axially and circumferentially to produce a complete liner design. The liner can be made from any metallic or non-metallic material suitable for additive manufacturing.

This work was done by Don Weir of Honeywell and Joseph Grady of NASA for Glenn Research Center as part of a Team Seedling Project funded by the NASA Aeronautics Research Institute. For more information, please contact NASA Glenn Research Center’s technology transfer program at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit us on the Web at https://technology.grc.nasa.gov/ . Please reference LEW-19229-1