Experimental Study of Aerodynamic Noise From the Trailing Edge and Leading Edge of Blades in a Coaxial-Double Shaft Fan

Author(s):  
Jafar Madadnia ◽  
Mustafa Shekeb ◽  
Thimantha Ulluwishewa

Proactive acoustic noise control technologies in wind turbines and blowers have in recent years been the focus of intensive research to integrate wind turbines in residential building and to address public concerns on noise pollution. However efforts to understand the mechanics has been inconclusive, mainly due to the complexity and commercial confidentiality of the topic. The paper reports on the experimental investigation on two methods in controlling aerodynamic noise. A counter-rotating-double-row-turbine with variable gap/spacing (s) was designed, built and tested. Serrations were designed and attached on the leading edge and the trailing edge of the blades to proactively control aerodynamic noise. The model was operated in fan-mode and air velocity, shaft-revolution; electric-fan-power, acoustic noise amplitude (dB) and Centre frequency (CF in Hz) were measured for a number of spacing and serrations. Coefficients of Performance (COP), dB, CF were plotted against tip speed (TS). It was noticed that: • The double-shaft-fan has operated quieter than the single shaft fan especially as TS decreases. Acoustic noise (dB) dropped 20% at TS = 4m/s to less than 2% at TS = 10m/s. Efficiency and CF increased in the double-shaft fan as TS increased. Spacing variation between blade-rows had insignificant effect on the dB, Cf, and efficiency. • Serrations on single-shaft fan have also reduced dB (up to 10%), increased efficiency and CF with more positive effects with the serrations on the leading edge than the trailing edge. Serrations are more effective at higher TS range. • Serrations on a double-shaft fan with an optimum spacing, reduced acoustic noise (dB) only allow speeds [at TS <4m/s]. However minor improvement was noticed in efficiency or noise frequency.

Author(s):  
Jafar Madadnia ◽  
Faisal Alshehri ◽  
Kaushik Tilwa

Noise pollution from wind turbines and blowers operating in the vicinity of residential buildings has in recent years been the focus of intensive research. This paper reports on the outcome of an experimental investigation to reduce the noise pollution through design, build and testing of a counter-rotating-double-row-fan with variable spacing. A single-row fan was selected as the benchmark fan. The mechanical noise and the background ambient noise were measured using the system operating with no-blades. The aerodynamic noise from the fan was then focused and air velocity, shaft-revolution, input-electric-power to fan, amplitude (dB) and Center Frequency (CF) in Hz of noise were measured using frequency-weighting of both “A” and “Linear”. Coefficients of performance (COP), dB, CF, Tip speed ratio (TSR) were plotted for a range of spacing between two-blade-rows. It was noticed that double-shaft-fan relative to the benchmark single shaft fan has operated: a) At a lower TSR due to division of the motor power between two shafts. b) At a higher COP of up to 18% due to a higher air velocity generated at the same motor power. c) Quieter at a lower dB (of up to 10 dB). d) At the minimum noise levels (80 dB) at the spacing of 15mm-to-25mm, using the “Lin”-weighting. e) At the minimum noise levels (20 dB) at the spacing of 12mm-to 50 mm when measured at the “A”-weighting. f) With no significant change in frequency of noise when operate at the same TSR.


2016 ◽  
Vol 791 ◽  
pp. 414-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorna J. Ayton

The scattering of sound by a finite rigid plate with a finite poroelastic extension interacting with an unsteady acoustic source is investigated to determine the effects of porosity, elasticity and the length of the extension when compared to a purely rigid plate. The problem is solved using the Wiener–Hopf technique, and an approximate Wiener–Hopf factorisation process is implemented to yield reliable far-field results quickly. Importantly, finite chord-length effects are taken into account, principally the interaction of a rigid leading-edge acoustic field with a poroelastic trailing-edge acoustic field. The model presented discusses how the poroelastic trailing-edge property of owls’ wings could inspire quieter aeroacoustic designs in bladed systems such as wind turbines, and provides a framework for analysing the potential noise reduction of these designs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 2224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Wang ◽  
Kun Zhao ◽  
Xiang-Yu Lu ◽  
Yu-Bao Song ◽  
Gareth J. Bennett

It is well-known that many species of owl have the unique ability to fly silently, which can be attributed to their distinctive and special feather adaptations. Inspired by the owls, researchers attempted to reduce the aerodynamic noise of aircraft and other structures by learning their noise reduction features from different viewpoints and then using the gained knowledge to develop a number of innovative noise reduction solutions. Although fruitful results have been achieved in the bio-inspired aerodynamic noise control, as far as the authors know, comparatively little work has been done to summarize the main findings and progresses in this area. In this bibliographic survey, we systematically review the progresses and trends of the bio-inspired aerodynamic noise control, including the macroscopic and microscopic morphological characteristics of the owl wing feathers, the noise measurements on both flying birds in the field and prepared wings in the wind tunnel, as well as theoretical, numerical and experimental studies that explored the feasibility, parameter influence, aerodynamic effects and underlying mechanisms of the four main bio-inspired noise reduction techniques, i.e., leading edge serrations, trailing edge serrations, fringe-type trailing edge extensions and porous material inspired noise reduction. Finally, we also give some suggestions for future work.


2012 ◽  
Vol 452-453 ◽  
pp. 1089-1093
Author(s):  
Jafar Madadnia ◽  
Deepak Kala ◽  
Dheerej Pillai ◽  
Homa Koosha

Management and control of noise pollution in wind turbines are important to integrate wind turbines in building and urban areas. A scaled model of a horizontal-co-axial wind turbine was designed, built and tested in the wind tunnel of University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and its characteristics and aerodynamic-noise emissions were analyzed. The noise reduction capability of the horizontal-twin-shaft wind turbines was compared with wind turbines with the conical entry nozzle (stator), duct-shroud-envelop and vertical shafts. Air velocity, shaft rpm, electric-power generation, noise frequency and amplitude were measured. It was found that up to 15% reduction in the amplitude (dB) of noise emisit from twin shaft wind turbine compared to the single shaft bench mark turbine. The noise analysis performed as a result of these experiments may be used in the design and selection of a building integrated horizontal axis wind turbine for applications at UTS buildings.


Author(s):  
Mohammed Rafiuddin Ahmed ◽  
Epeli Nabolaniwaqa

The flow characteristics and the lift and drag behavior of a newly designed thick trailing-edged airfoil that was provided with fixed trailing edge flaps (Gurney flaps) of 1% to 5% height right at the back of the airfoil were studied at different low Reynolds numbers (Re) and angles of attack for possible applications in wind turbines suitable for the wind speeds of 4–6 m/s that are common in the Pacific Island Countries. A thick trailing-edged blade section, AF300, that was designed and tested in a recent work for small horizontal axis wind turbines to improve the turbine’s startup and performance at low wind speeds was chosen for this study. Experiments were performed on the AF300 airfoil in a wind tunnel at different Re, flap heights and angles of attack. Pressure distributions were obtained across the surface of the airfoil and the lift and drag forces were measured for different cases. It was found that the flap considerably improves the suction on the upper surface of the airfoil resulting in a high lift coefficient. For some of the angles, in the case of 3 mm and 4 mm flaps, the peak Cp values on the suction surface were significantly higher compared to those without the flap. However, at angles of attack of 12° and above, this unusually high Cp on the upper surface close to the leading edge caused flow separation for some cases as the flow could not withstand the strong adverse pressure gradient. The CFX results matched most of the experimental results without flaps, except that the suction peak was lower numerically. The difference was higher for the case with flaps. It is clear from the results that trailing-edge flaps can be used to improve the performance of small wind turbines designed for low wind speeds.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1475472X2097838
Author(s):  
CK Sumesh ◽  
TJS Jothi

This paper investigates the noise emissions from NACA 6412 asymmetric airfoil with different perforated extension plates at the trailing edge. The length of the extension plate is 10 mm, and the pore diameters ( D) considered for the study are in the range of 0.689 to 1.665 mm. The experiments are carried out in the flow velocity ( U∞) range of 20 to 45 m/s, and geometric angles of attack ( αg) values of −10° to +10°. Perforated extensions have an overwhelming response in reducing the low frequency noise (<1.5 kHz), and a reduction of up to 6 dB is observed with an increase in the pore diameter. Contrastingly, the higher frequency noise (>4 kHz) is observed to increase with an increase in the pore diameter. The dominant reduction in the low frequency noise for perforated model airfoils is within the Strouhal number (based on the displacement thickness) of 0.11. The overall sound pressure levels of perforated model airfoils are observed to reduce by a maximum of 2 dB compared to the base airfoil. Finally, by varying the geometric angle of attack from −10° to +10°, the lower frequency noise is seen to increase, while the high frequency noise is observed to decrease.


Author(s):  
Dian Li ◽  
Xiaomin Liu ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Fujia Hu ◽  
Guang Xi

Previous publications have summarized that three special morphological structures of owl wing could reduce aerodynamic noise under low Reynolds number flows effectively. However, the coupling noise-reduction mechanism of bionic airfoil with trailing-edge serrations is poorly understood. Furthermore, while the bionic airfoil extracted from natural owl wing shows remarkable noise-reduction characteristics, the shape of the owl-based airfoils reconstructed by different researchers has some differences, which leads to diversity in the potential noise-reduction mechanisms. In this article, three kinds of owl-based airfoils with trailing-edge serrations are investigated to reveal the potential noise-reduction mechanisms, and a clean airfoil based on barn owl is utilized as a reference to make a comparison. The instantaneous flow field and sound field around the three-dimensional serrated airfoils are simulated by using incompressible large eddy simulation coupled with the FW-H equation. The results of unsteady flow field show that the flow field of Owl B exhibits stronger and wider-scale turbulent velocity fluctuation than that of other airfoils, which may be the potential reason for the greater noise generation of Owl B. The scale and magnitude of alternating mean convective velocity distribution dominates the noise-reduction effect of trailing-edge serrations. The noise-reduction characteristic of Owl C outperforms that of Barn owl, which suggests that the trailing-edge serrations can suppress vortex shedding noise of flow field effectively. The trailing-edge serrations mainly suppress the low-frequency noise of the airfoil. The trailing-edge serration can suppress turbulent noise by weakening pressure fluctuation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvaro Gonzalez ◽  
Xabier Munduate

This work undertakes an aerodynamic analysis over the parked and the rotating NREL Phase VI wind turbine blade. The experimental sequences from NASA Ames wind tunnel selected for this study respond to the parked blade and the rotating configuration, both for the upwind, two-bladed wind turbine operating at nonyawed conditions. The objective is to bring some light into the nature of the flow field and especially the type of stall behavior observed when 2D aerofoil steady measurements are compared to the parked blade and the latter to the rotating one. From averaged pressure coefficients together with their standard deviation values, trailing and leading edge separated flow regions have been found, with the limitations of the repeatability of the flow encountered on the blade. Results for the parked blade show the progressive delay from tip to root of the trailing edge separation process, with respect to the 2D profile, and also reveal a local region of leading edge separated flow or bubble at the inner, 30% and 47% of the blade. For the rotating blade, results at inboard 30% and 47% stations show a dramatic suppression of the trailing edge separation, and the development of a leading edge separation structure connected with the extra lift.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1475472X2110032
Author(s):  
Yongfei Mu ◽  
Jie Li ◽  
Wutao Lei ◽  
Daxiong Liao

The aerodynamic noise of landing gears have been widely studied as an important component of the airframe noise. During take-off and landing, there are doors, cavity and fuselage around the landing gear. The noise caused by these aircraft components will interfere with aerodynamic noise generated by the landing gear itself. Hence, paper proposes an Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (IDDES) method for the investigation of the flow field around a single fuselage nose landing gear (NLG) model and a fuselage nose landing gear model with doors, cavity and fuselage nose (NLG-DCN) respectively. The difference between the two flow fields were analyzed in detail to better understand the influence of these components around the aircraft’s landing gear, and it was found that there is a serious mixing phenomenon among the separated flow from the front doors, the unstable shear layer falling off the leading edge of the cavity and the wake of the main strut which directly leads to the enhancement of the noise levels. Furthermore, after the noise sound waves are reflected by the doors several times, an interference phenomenon is generated between the doors. This interference may be a reason why the tone excited in the cavity is suppressed.


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