Chap4 Fan Noise Simulation
Chap4 Fan Noise Simulation
For the study of blade sweep and its impact on the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic
performance of the axial flow fans, a series of numerical simulations were carried
out for the radial, forward and backward sweep fans using GAMBIT as pre-
processor and FLUENT as solver and post-processor. As Direct Numerical
Simulation (DNS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) are still computationally
expensive, Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations were employed
for the simulations in FLUENT. Fan blades were designed using NACA 0065
airfoils and have a radius of 0.2 meters. SolidWorks was used for 3D solid
modeling of three fans. A total of fifteen (15) simulations were performed for
three (forward, radial and backwards) fans at five differnt flow rates (0.675,
0.81,0.9, 0.99 and 1.125 m3 /s) corresponding to the inlet velocities of 5.37,
6.45, 7.16, 7.88 and 8.95 m/s respectively. The working fluid for all simulations
is air at STP (Standard Temperature and Pressure). The highest flow Reynolds
number (Re) corresponding to highest inlet velocity and fan diameter is 2.4E05.
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Figure 1: Test bench model for axial flow fans
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Figure 3: 1/6th of fan used in simulations
1.4 Interfaces
For all the three fans, Interfaces have been at the entry and at the exit of the
rotor domains. Interface is a surface that belongs to the two zones and therefore
is called as interface. Interfaces used in the simulation are shown in the figure
4.
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Figure 5: Moving-walls boundary conditions for fan
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2 RANS and Turbulence Models
2.1 Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS)
Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) have been derived from Navier-Stokes
equations by decomposing instantaneous quantities into an average and fluctuat-
ing quantities. The three-dimensional viscous incompressible (constant density)
Navier-Stokes equations (for both laminar and turbulent flows) without gravity
terms are given as,
The x-momentum equation,
∂u ∂u ∂u ∂u 1 ∂p
+u +v +w =− + ν∇2 u (1)
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z ρ ∂x
The y-momentum equation,
∂v ∂v ∂v ∂v 1 ∂p
+u +v +w =− + ν∇2 v (2)
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z ρ ∂y
The z-momentum equation,
∂w ∂w ∂w ∂w 1 ∂p
+u +v +w =− + ν∇2 w (3)
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z ρ ∂z
whereas the continuity equation is given as,
∂u ∂v ∂w
+ + =0 (4)
∂x ∂y ∂z
Here u,v and w represent instantaneous velocities in x-, y- and z-directions,
t represents time, p is the static pressure, ν is the kinematic viscosity and
∂2 ∂2 ∂2
∇2 = ∂x 2 + ∂y 2 + ∂z 2 . In the indical notation, the same equations can be
written compactly as,
1
∂t ui + uj ∂j ui = − ∂i p + ν∇2 ui (5)
ρ
with the continuity equation given as,
∂i ui = 0 (6)
The RANS equations for a three-dimensional viscous incompressible (con-
stant density) turbulent flow without gravity terms can be written as,
The x-momentum equation,
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∂v ∂v ∂v ∂v 1 ∂p ∂u0 v 0 ∂v 02 ∂v 0 w0
+u +v +w =− + ν∇2 v − ( + + ) (8)
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z ρ ∂y ∂x ∂y ∂z
The z-momentum equation,
∂w ∂w ∂w ∂w 1 ∂p ∂u0 w0 ∂v 0 w0 ∂w02
+u +v +w =− + ν∇2 w − ( + + ) (9)
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z ρ ∂z ∂x ∂y ∂z
whereas the continuity equation can be written as,
∂u ∂v ∂w
+ + =0 (10)
∂x ∂y ∂z
Here the overbar () denote mean quantity and a prime ()0 denotes fluctuat-
ing quantity. In the indical notation, the RANS momentum equations can be
compactly written as,
1
∂t ui + uj ∂j ui = − ∂i p + ν∇2 ui − ∂j u0j u0i (11)
ρ
whereas the continuity equation can be written as,
∂i ui = 0 (12)
k2
νt = Cµ (13)
where Cµ is a constant (0.09) and k and are obtained from differential
equations which represent the transport of turbulent kinetic energy k and rate
of dissipation . These equations are,
∂k ∂k ∂ νt ∂k ∂u
u +v = ( ) + νt ( )2 − (14)
∂x ∂y ∂y αk ∂y ∂y
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∂ ∂ ∂ νt ∂ ∂u 2
u +v = ( ) + C1 νt ( )2 − C2 (15)
∂x ∂y ∂y α ∂y k ∂y k
Here the three terms of the right-hand side of equation 14 represent turbu-
lent diffusion, turbulent energy production and viscous dissipation respectively
where the parameters Cµ = 0.09, C1 = 1.44, C2 = 1.92, αk = 1 and α = 1.3.
These equations apply only to free shear flows. Wall damping functions were
later added to the original model of Jones and Launder (1972) to enable this
model to be used for wall-bounded shear flows too.
This equation describes six partial differential equations, one for the trans-
port of each of the six independent Reynolds stresses.