Numerical and experimental investigation of noise from small scale axial fans focusing on inflow condition and acoustic source type.

摘要

The objective of this work was to conduct an experimental and numerical investigation of the noise radiated by a small-scale axial fan from two different points-of-view: the development of an inflow treatment to compensate for unfavorable inflow conditions that result in excessive noise, and a consideration of installation effects for the acoustic source type of small axial fans.;The effect of disturbed inflow on axial fans was experimentally investigated by intentionally placing a blockage plate at four different locations upstream of a fan. The blocked inflow made the axial fan perform very poorly; the severely decreased pressure performance introduced an overly strong dependence of flow performance on pressure load condition. An inflow diffuser made from aluminum foam was suggested to improve the aerodynamic and acoustic performance of the axial fan under such unfavorable inflow conditions. The inflow diffuser improved the stability of flow performance and reduced the blade passing tone by a small amount, but the levels of the high frequency harmonics of the blade passing tone were increased. A corresponding numerical model was built to model the flow change due to the inflow foam treatment. The inflow foam diffuser was approximated as a homogeneous porous zone to make the computational cost affordable, and it was shown that the model can predict the foam's influence on the pressure and flow performance of the fan. The aeroacoustic analogy model was applied to the solid surfaces of the fan and its housing to simulate the tonal noise at the blade passing frequency. The validity of the homogeneous foam model in terms of aeroacoustic predictions was also confirmed.;As for the second aspect of the axial fan noise source, the dipole-like source behavior of an axial fan at the blade passing frequency was verified by directivity measurements. Thus, dipole modeling of an axial fan was justified. This result is associated with the problem of overestimated fan source strength due to the installation effect when measurements are made using an ISO 10302 plenum. A suggestion was made to compensate for this discrepancy. Further, by using the point dipole assumption as suggested, a method for mapping the sound radiation resistance when a fan is placed within a system enclosure was developed to help guide the positioning of axial fans within an enclosure so that they radiate the minimum sound power.