The Effect of Blade Count on Body Force Model Performance for Axial Fans

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Palak Saini ◽  
Jeff Defoe
Author(s):  
Palak Saini ◽  
Jeff Defoe

Abstract Body force models enable inexpensive numerical simulations of turbomachinery. The approach replaces the blades with sources of momentum/energy. Such models capture a “smeared out” version of the blades’ effect on the flow, reducing computational cost. The body force model used in this paper has been widely used in aircraft engine applications. Its implementation for low speed, low solidity (few blades) turbomachines, such as automotive cooling fans, enables predictions of cooling flows and component temperatures without calibrated fan curves. Automotive cooling fans tend to have less than 10 blades, which is approximately 50% of blade counts for modern jet engine fans. The effect this has on the body force model predictions is unknown and the objective of this paper is to quantify how varying blade count affects the accuracy of the predictions for both uniform and non-uniform inflow. The key findings are that reductions in blade metal blockage combined with spanwise flow redistribution drives the body force model to more accurately predict work coefficient as the blade count decreases, and that reducing the number of blades is found to have negligible impacts on upstream influence and distortion transfer in non-uniform inflow until extremely low blade counts (such as 2) are applied.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Palak Saini ◽  
Jeff Defoe

Abstract Body force models enable inexpensive numerical simulations of turbomachinery. The approach replaces the blades with sources of momentum/energy. Such models capture a “smeared out” version of the blades' effect on the flow, reducing computational cost. The body force model used in this paper has been widely used in aircraft engine applications. Its implementation for low speed, low solidity (few blades) turbomachines, such as automotive cooling fans, enables predictions of cooling flows and component temperatures without calibrated fan curves. Automotive cooling fans tend to have less than 10 blades, which is approximately 50% of blade counts for modern jet engine fans. The effect this has on the body force model predictions is unknown and the objective of this paper is to quantify how varying blade count affects the accuracy of the predictions for both uniform and non-uniform inflow. The key findings are that reductions in blade metal blockage combined with spanwise flow redistribution drives the body force model to more accurately predict work coefficient as the blade count decreases, and that reducing the number of blades is found to have negligible impacts on upstream influence and distortion transfer in non-uniform inflow until extremely low blade counts (such as 2) are applied.


Author(s):  
R. V. Chima

In this work computational models were developed and used to investigate applications of vortex generators (VGs) to turbomachinery. The work was aimed at increasing the efficiency of compressor components designed for the NASA Ultra Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) program. Initial calculations were used to investigate the physical behavior of VGs. A parametric study of the effects of VG height was done using 3-D calculations of isolated VGs. A body force model was developed to simulate the effects of VGs without requiring complicated grids. The model was calibrated using 2-D calculations of the VG vanes and was validated using the 3-D results. Then three applications of VGs to a compressor rotor and stator were investigated: 1. The results of the 3-D calculations were used to simulate the use of small casing VGs used to generate rotor preswirl or counterswirl. Computed performance maps were used to evaluate the effects of VGs. 2. The body force model was used to simulate large partspan splitters on the casing ahead of the stator. Computed loss buckets showed the effects of the VGs. 3. The body force model was also used to investigate the use of tiny VGs on the stator suction surface for controlling secondary flows. Near-surface particle traces and exit loss profiles were used to evaluate the effects of the VGs.


1986 ◽  
Vol 57 (8) ◽  
pp. 559-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Nait-Laziz ◽  
K.K. Chopra

Author(s):  
Vaibhav K. Arghode ◽  
Pramod Kumar ◽  
Yogendra Joshi ◽  
Thomas S. Weiss ◽  
Gary Meyer

Effective air flow distribution through perforated tiles is required to efficiently cool servers in a raised floor data center. We present detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of air flow through a perforated tile and its entrance to the adjacent server rack. The realistic geometrical details of the perforated tile, as well as of the rack are included in the model. Generally models for air flow through perforated tiles specify a step pressure loss across the tile surface, or porous jump model based on the tile porosity. An improvement to this includes a momentum source specification above the tile to simulate the acceleration of the air flow through the pores, or body force model. In both of these models geometrical details of tile such as pore locations and shapes are not included. More details increase the grid size as well as the computational time. However, the grid refinement can be controlled to achieve balance between the accuracy and computational time. We compared the results from CFD using geometrical resolution with the porous jump and body force model solution as well as with the measured flow field using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experiments. We observe that including tile geometrical details gives better results as compared to elimination of tile geometrical details and specifying physical models across and above the tile surface. A modification to the body force model is also suggested and improved results were achieved.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qichao Xue ◽  
Chunwei Zhang ◽  
Jian He ◽  
Guangping Zou ◽  
Jingcai Zhang

Based on the summary of existing pounding force analytical models, an updated pounding force analysis method is proposed by introducing viscoelastic constitutive model and contact mechanics method. Traditional Kelvin viscoelastic pounding force model can be expanded to 3-parameter linear viscoelastic model by separating classic pounding model parameters into geometry parameters and viscoelastic material parameters. Two existing pounding examples, the poundings of steel-to-steel and concrete-to-concrete, are recalculated by utilizing the proposed method. Afterwards, the calculation results are compared with other pounding force models. The results show certain accuracy in proposed model. The relative normalized errors of steel-to-steel and concrete-to-concrete experiments are 19.8% and 12.5%, respectively. Furthermore, a steel-to-polymer pounding example is calculated, and the application of the proposed method in vibration control analysis for pounding tuned mass damper (TMD) is simulated consequently. However, due to insufficient experiment details, the proposed model can only give a rough trend for both single pounding process and vibration control process. Regardless of the cheerful prospect, the study in this paper is only the first step of pounding force calculation. It still needs a more careful assessment of the model performance, especially in the presence of inelastic response.


Author(s):  
Quentin J. Minaker ◽  
Jeffrey J. Defoe

Modern aircraft engines must accommodate inflow distortions entering the engines as a consequence of modifying the size, shape, and placement of the engines and/or nacelle to increase propulsive efficiency and reduce aircraft weight and drag. It is important to be able to predict the interactions between the external flow and the fan early in the design process. This is challenging due to computational cost and limited access to detailed fan/engine geometry. In this, the first part of a two part paper, we present a design process that produces a fan gas path and body force model with performance representative of modern high bypass ratio turbofan engines. The target users are those with limited experience in turbomachinery design or limited access to fan geometry. We employ quasi-1D analysis and a series of simplifying assumptions to produce a gas path and the body force model inputs. Using a body force model of the fan enables steady computational fluid dynamics simulations to capture fan–distortion interaction. The approach is verified for the NASA Stage 67 transonic fan. An example of the design process is also included; the model generated is shown to meet the desired fan stagnation pressure ratio and thrust to within 1%.


2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 2048-2065 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Thollet ◽  
Guillaume Dufour ◽  
Xavier Carbonneau ◽  
Florian Blanc

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore a methodology that allows to represent turbomachinery rotating parts by replacing the blades with a body force field. The objective is to capture interactions between a fan and an air intake at reduced cost, as compared to full annulus unsteady computations. Design/methodology/approach The blade effects on the flow are taken into account by adding source terms to the Navier-Stokes equations. These source terms give the proper amount of flow turning, entropy, and blockage to the flow. Two different approaches are compared: the source terms can be computed using an analytic model, or they can directly be extracted from RANS computations with the blade’s geometry. Findings The methodology is first applied to an isolated rotor test case, which allows to show that blockage effects have a strong impact on the performance of the rotor. It is also found that the analytic body force model underestimates the mass flow in the blade row for choked conditions. Finally, the body force approach is used to capture the coupling between a fan and an air intake at high angle of attacks. A comparison with full annulus unsteady computations shows that the model adequately captures the potential effects of the fan on the air intake. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, it is the first time that the analytic model used in this paper is combined with the blockage source terms. Furthermore, the capability of the model to deal with flows in choked conditions was never assessed.


Author(s):  
Xiaohua Liu ◽  
Yanpei Zhou ◽  
Xiaofeng Sun ◽  
Dakun Sun

This paper applies a theoretical model developed recently to calculate the flow instability inception point in axial high speed compressors system. After the mean flow field is computed by steady CFD simulation, a body force approach, which is a function of flow field data and comprises of one inviscid part and the other viscid part, is taken to duplicate the physical sources of flow turning and loss. Further by applying appropriate boundary conditions and spectral collocation method, a group of homogeneous equations will yield from which the stability equation can be derived. The singular value decomposition method is adopted over a series of fine grid points in frequency domain, and the onset point of flow instability can be judged by the imaginary part of the resultant eigenvalue. The first assessment is to check the applicability of the present model on calculating the stall margin of one single stage transonic compressors at 85% rotational speed. The reasonable prediction accuracy validates that this model can provide an unambiguous judgment on stall inception without numerous requirements of empirical relations of loss and deviation angle. It could possibly be employed to check over-computed stall margin during the design phase of new high speed fan/compressors. The following validation case is conducted to study the nontrivial role of tip clearance in rotating stall, and a parameter study is performed to investigate the effects of end wall body force coefficient on stall onset point calculation. It is verified that the present model could qualitatively predict the reduced stall margin by assuming a simplified body force model which represents the response of a large tip clearance on the unsteady flow field.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document