Two diametrically opposite rotating blades with equal tangential loads have zero total rotating force. Their leading compact acoustic dipoles cancel, but their retarded positions and moving-surface retarded Jacobians leave an acoustic quadrupole. For line load and angular speed , the first radiating density is . The twofold geometry gives frequency , while projection into the rotor plane gives the amplitude directivity .
Put , and take the retarded acoustic Green function for :
This selects the causal, outgoing acoustic density perturbation, with no additional incoming homogeneous wave equation solution. Convolving the acoustic dipole forcing with this Green function and moving its spatial derivative outside the integral gives
The surface delta distribution converts the spatial integral to the moving surface. At fixed surface labels , set
The radial Mach number enters the moving-surface retarded Jacobian, because and hence
Let be a root of the retarded time equation
The delta change-of-variable rule now gives
Here is the surface-area factor from the orthogonal surface coordinates. For a subsonic surface, , the retarded equation is monotone in and has one root when the motion is defined for the required past times. For more general motion, sum the displayed contribution over all simple retarded roots. A root with requires a separate limiting treatment; the simple-root formula does not apply there.
Write and , where . Label the two arms by . Their positions are . To radiating far-field accuracy,
The retarded time equation therefore gives, with ,
For the first arm, , this is the requested phase expansion. The more explicit geometric error also makes the dimensional meaning of the printed term clear.
Apply the Taylor theorem to the rotating line force. Since , its first two orders, expressed in a common reference frame, are
Also , so the radial Mach number is
The absolute value causes no change of sign in this subsonic limit. Multiplying these two expansions before summing is essential: both the shifted force and the moving-surface retarded Jacobian contribute at the same order.
Denote the integrated numerator, including that Jacobian, by . Pairing the two blades cancels all terms odd in , including the first Doppler correction to the axial load. Hence
The factor comes from . Only the time-dependent term radiates at order . Applying to the integral now gives , and thus
There are also nonradiating terms of order . Multiply by for the acoustic pressure. The stated coefficient uses the rotation convention fixed above; reversing the rotation reverses the corresponding signed load and phase convention.
This is a compact rotating two-blade loading source acting as an acoustic quadrupole. The compact total rotating force cancels, leaving the first spatial moment of the loading. Its two factors of the observer's projection into the rotor plane produce : there is no leading sound on the rotation axis and the density amplitude is maximal in the rotor plane. The configuration repeats after half a rotation, explaining frequency . These statements concern amplitude; the corresponding acoustic intensity has a factor.
If , the displayed first-order contribution vanishes as well. For completeness, expanding the axial Jacobian to its next even order gives
The first remaining axial-load radiation is then
Thus the constant axial total force does not produce the lower-order term, even though its moving spatial distribution can radiate at a higher order.
Radial Mach number 2026-10-07
The radial Mach number is the source velocity projected toward the observer, divided by the sound speed. It enters the moving-surface retarded Jacobian through . The sign is directional: a source moving toward the observer has positive and compressed arrival times.