An experimental investigation of the three-dimensional flow field through a low aspect ratio, transonic, axial-flow fan rotor has been conducted using an advanced laser anemometer (LA) system. Laser velocimeter measurements of the rotor flow field at the design operating speed and over a range of through flow conditions are compared to analytical solutions. The numerical technique used herein yields the solution to the full, three-dimensional, unsteady Euler equations using an explicit time-marching, finite volume approach. The numerical analysis, when coupled with a simplified boundary layer calculation, generally yields good agreement with the experimental data. The test rotor has an aspect ratio of 1.56, a design total pressure ratio of 1.629 and a tip relative Mach number of 1.38. The high spatial resolution of the LA data matrix (9 radial × 30 axial × 50 blade-to-blade) permits details of the transonic flow field such as shock location, turning distribution, and blade loading levels to be investigated an compared to analytical results.
Effect of Aspect Ratio on Three-Dimensional Flow in Square Cavity
