Numerical Simulation on Axial Flow Fan Performance with Changing Tip Clearance

2013 ◽  
Vol 732-733 ◽  
pp. 577-580
Author(s):  
Zhou Ye ◽  
Hai Yang Zhao ◽  
Lu Zhang ◽  
Chun Li ◽  
Wei Gao

Taking the relative tip clearance as the variable, we numerically simulated the effect of tip clearance size on the performance of a straight-blade axial flow fan using the 3-D viscous flow solver. The tip clearance is referenced in the relative value. By comparing the flow field corresponding to five different values of the tip clearance 0, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% with other parameters kept constant, we concluded that the changing of the tip clearance has a great influence on the performance of the axial flow fan. Both the efficiency and the total pressure decrease with the increase of the tip clearance.

Author(s):  
HaoGuang Zhang ◽  
Kang An ◽  
Feng Tan ◽  
YanHui Wu ◽  
WuLi Chu

The compressor aerodynamic design is conducted under the condition of clean inlet in general, but a compressor often operates under the condition of inlet distortion in the practical application. It has been proven by a lot of experimental and numerical investigations that inlet distortion can decrease the performance and stability of compressors. The circumferential or radial distorted inlet in mostly numerical investigations is made by changing the total pressure and total temperature in the inlet ring surface of the compressors. In most of inlet distortion experiments, distorted inlets are usually created by using wire net, flashboards, barriers or the generator of rotating distortion. The fashion of generating distorted inlet for experiment is different from that for numerical simulation. Consequently, the flow mechanism of affecting the flow field and stability of a compressor with distorted inlet for experiment is partly different than that for numerical simulation. In the numerical work reported here, the inlet distortion is generated by setting some barriers in the inlet ring surface of an axial subsonic compressor rotor. Two kinds of distorted inlet are investigated to exploring the effect of distorted range on the flow field and stability of the compressor with ten-passage unsteady numerical method. The numerical results show that the inlet distortions not only degrade the total pressure and efficiency of the compressor rotor, but also decrease the stability of the rotor. The larger the range of distorted inlet is, the stronger the adverse effect is. The comprehensive stall margin for the inlet distortion of 24 degrees and 48 degrees of ten-passages is reduced about 3.35% and 5.88% respectively. The detailed analysis of the flow field in the compressor indicates that the blockage resulted from tip clearance leakage vortex (TLV) and the flow separation near the suction surfaces of some blades tip for distorted inlet is more serious than that resulted from TLV for clean inlet. Moreover, the larger the range of distorted inlet is, the larger the range of the blockage is. The analysis of unsteady flow shows that during this process, which is that one rotor blade passes through the region affected by the distorted inlet, the range of the blockage in the rotor passage increases first, then reduces, and increases last.


2014 ◽  
Vol 598 ◽  
pp. 129-134
Author(s):  
Sheam Chyun Lin ◽  
Fu Yin Wang ◽  
Cheng Ju Chang ◽  
Hung Cheng Yen ◽  
Yung Jen Cheng

Generally, most research attempts on the axial-flow fan focus on optimizing rotor blade and tip clearance to enhance its aerodynamic and acoustic performances. Few efforts aim at finding out the appropriate frame rib, which is a supporting and vital part within the air passage and thus has significant influence on the turbulent flow near the blade trailing edge. Therefore, this study intends to investigate the geometrical parameters of the frame rib systematically by using an integrated scheme, which consists of numerical simulation, mockup fabrication, and experimental verification. At first, a high-performance fan (90×90×38 mm3) is constructed to serve as the sample fan for this investigation. Then three geometrical sections (triangle, cylinder, and arc) of frame rib are examined systematically to provide a design guideline on utilizing the appropriate frame rib for enhancing the fan performance.


Author(s):  
Xiaocheng Zhu ◽  
Wanlai Lin ◽  
Zhaohui Du ◽  
Yan Zhao

The three-dimensional flow field in the tip region of an isolated axial flow fan rotor with two different tip clearances are investigated using a three-color, dual-beam PDA system (Particle Doppler Anemometer, DANTEC Measurement Technology). The global performance is also obtained, and is compared favorably with CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) modeling of this fan flow at a zero tip clearance. The detailed flow field measurements are taken at 15 axial locations upstream, inside and at the exit of the rotor. In the radial direction, 15 measurement locations are arranged from 50% of the blade span to the casing wall, mainly focusing on the tip region from 90% of the blade span location to the casing wall (about 10 measurement locations). The PDA data has provided a quantitative understanding of the flow phenomena in the tip region of the fan rotor. For both tip clearances, it has been observed that the tip leakage flow rolls up into a tip leakage vortex. Due to the rotation of the rotor, this tip leakage vortex moves away from the suction surface of the fan blade. A reverse flow is induced in the main flow passage because of the tip leakage vortex. The depth and extent of the tip leakage vortex grow noticeably with the increase of the tip clearance.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014.49 (0) ◽  
pp. 119-120
Author(s):  
Kouta CHIBA ◽  
Ken-ichi FUNAZAKI ◽  
Hideo TANIGUCHI ◽  
Yusuke MAKINO

Author(s):  
Zhaohui Du ◽  
Wanlai Lin ◽  
Xiaocheng Zhu ◽  
Yan Zhao

In this paper, a three-color dual-beam PDA (Particle Dynamic Analyzer) system (made by DANTEC Measurement Technology) is used to measure the three-dimensional velocity of an axial flow fan. Due to the geometrical limit of fan rotor, non-orthogonal velocity components are measured first, from which the orthogonal three-dimensional components of the velocity field are computed through transformation equations. The detailed flow fields at 15 axial locations upstream, inside and at the exit of the rotor are measured, respectively. On each cross section perpendicular to the rotating axis, the flow field measurement at 15 different radial locations from 50% of the blade span to the region inside the tip clearance (between the tip blade and the casing wall) are taken. The experimental technique is described, and the three dimensional flow fields (including the tip clearance flow) are presented and analyzed.


Author(s):  
Mahesh K. Varpe ◽  
A. M. Pradeep

This paper describes the design of a non-axisymmetric hub contouring in a shroudless axial flow compressor cascade operating at near stall condition. Although, an optimum tip clearance reduces the total pressure loss, further minimization of the losses using hub contouring was achieved. The design methodology presented here combines an evolutionary principle with a three-dimensional CFD flow solver to generate different geometric profiles of the hub systematically. The total pressure loss coefficient was used as a single objective function to guide the search process for the optimum hub geometry. The resulting three dimensionally complex hub promises considerable benefits discussed in detail in this paper. A reduction of 15.2% and 16.23% in the total pressure loss and secondary kinetic energy, respectively, was achieved in the wake. The blade loading was observed to improve by about 4.53%. Other complementary benefits are also listed in the paper. The results confirm that non-axisymmetric contouring is an effective method for reducing the losses and thereby improving the performance of the cascade.


Author(s):  
Wang Liangfeng ◽  
Xiang Kangshen ◽  
Mao Luqin ◽  
Tong Hang ◽  
Qiao Weiyang

Abstract The present study is focused on the sound generation due to the rotor tip clearance flow interaction with stator in an axial flow fan. A hybrid URANS/Goldstein’s equations method is applied to calculate the unsteady flow and tone noise in a high loaded axial-flow fan with different rotor tip clearance. The numerical simulation results show that the main sound sources of fan tip clearance tone noise are concentrated in the leading edge of downstream stator blades. It is found that when the rotor tip clearance increases from zero to 2.5 mm (0.94% relative blade height), the mass flow of the fan decreases by about 2% and the efficiency of the fan decreases by about 1 percentage, and the sound power level at 1BPF forward tone increases by 1.47dB, and that of backward tone increases by 0.65dB. However, the influence of tip clearance on the tone noise intensity at 2BPF and 3BPF is more complex, and the variation range is less than 1dB. It is found that the wake width and wake strength at the rotor exit increase with the increase of tip clearance. The tip secondary flow caused by rotor clearance seriously affects the circumferential inhomogeneity of stator leading edge inflow conditions.


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