International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids · 2001 · 57 citations · 10 references
EngineeringComputational EngineeringMechanical EngineeringComputational Fluid DynamicsFluid DynamicsFluid MechanicsAirflow SimulationComputational AerodynamicsFan PerformanceTurbulent FlowAxial Fan PerformanceBlade Element Momentum TheoryBlade Element TheoryFan Performance SimulationFan Power ConsumptionNumerical Flow SimulationNumerical SimulationVelocity
The main purpose of the current investigation is the development and evaluation of a numerical model used to simulate the effect of an axial flow fan on the velocity field in the vicinity of the fan blades. The authors model the axial flow fan as an actuator disc, compute disc forces via blade element theory, and solve the resulting momentum sources/sinks in the Navier–Stokes equations with the Flo++ CFD code to predict fan performance and velocity fields upstream and downstream of the blades, then compare the results with experimental data. In general, good agreement is obtained between the numerical results and experimental data, although the fan power consumption, as well as radial velocity downstream of the fan blades, is underpredicted by the fan model. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Abstract The main purpose of the current investigation is the development and evaluation of a numerical model used to simulate the effect of an axial flow fan on the velocity field in the vicinity of the fan blades. The axial flow fan is modeled as an actuator disc, where the actuator disc forces are calculated using blade element theory. The calculated disc forces are expressed as sources/sinks of momentum in the Navier–Stokes equations solved by a commercially available computational fluid dynamic (CFD) code, Flo ++ . The model is used to determine the fan performance characteristics of an axial flow fan as well as the velocity fields directly up‐ and downstream of the fan blades. The results are compared with experimental data. In general, good agreement is obtained between the numerical results and experimental data, although the fan power consumption, as well as radial velocity downstream of the fan blades, is underpredicted by the fan model. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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