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Effects of the inlet guide vanes on the static characteristics, aerodynamic noise and internal flow characteristics of a small axial flow fan are studied in this work. The inlet guide vanes with different outlet angle are designed, which are mounted on the casing and located at the upstream of the impeller of the prototype fan. Both steady and unsteady flow simulations are performed. The steady flow is simulated by the calculations of Navier-Stokes equations coupled with RNG k-epsilon turbulence model, while the unsteady flow is computed with large eddy simulation. According to the theoretical analysis, the inlet guide vanes with outlet angle of 60° are regarded as the optimal inlet guide vanes. The static characteristic experiment is carried out in a standard test rig and the aerodynamic noise is tested in a semi-anechoic room. Then, performances of the fan with optimal inlet guide vanes are compared with those of the prototype fan. The results show that there is reasonable agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data. It is found that the static characteristics of small axial flow fan is improved obviously after installing the optimal inlet guide vanes. Meanwhile, the optimal inlet guide vanes have effect on reducing noise at the near field, but have little effect on the noise at the far field.

In this work, tip end-plate is used to improve the noise performance of small axial fans. Both numerical simulations and experimental methods were adopted to study the fluid flow and noise level of axial fans. Four modified models and the prototype are simulated. Influences of tip end-plate on static characteristics, internal flow field and noise of small axial fans are analyzed. The results show that on basis of the prototype, the model with the tip end-plate of 2 mm width and changed length achieved best noise performance. The overall sound pressure level of the model with the tip end-plate of 2 mm width and changed length is 2.4 dB less than that of the prototype at the monitoring point in specified far field. It is found that the mechanism of noise reduction is due to the decrease of vorticity variation on the surface of blades caused by the tip end-plate. Compared with the prototype, the static pressure of the model with the tip end-plate of 2 mm width and changed length at design flow rate decreases by 2 Pa and the efficiency decreases by 0.8%. It is concluded that the method of adding tip end-plate to impeller blades has a positive influence on reducing noise, but it may diminish the static characteristics of small axial fan to some extent.

Effects of the uneven circumferential blade space on static characteristics and aerodynamic noise of a small axial flow fan are studied in this work. The blade angle modulation is adopted to design a series of unequally spaced fans, which have different maximum of modulation angular displacement. The steady flow is simulated by the calculations of Navier-Stokes equations coupled with RNG k-epsilon turbulence model, while the unsteady flow is computed with large eddy simulation. According to theoretical analysis, a fan with a maximum of modulation angular displacement of 6° is regarded as the optimal unequally spaced fan. The experiment of static characteristic is carried out in a standard wind tunnel and the aerodynamic noise of both fans is tested in a semi-anechoic room. Then, performances of the optimal unequally spaced fan are compared with those of the prototype fan. The results show that there is reasonable agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data. It is found that the discrete noise of the optimal unequally spaced fan is lower than that of the prototype fan at the near field monitoring point. This can be explained that the total pressure fluctuation of the optimal unequally spaced fan is much more regular than that of the prototype fan.

Interaction between rotor and struts has great effect on the performance of small axial fan systems. The small axial fan systems are selected as the studied objects in this paper, and four square struts are downstream of the rotor. The cross section of the struts is changed to the cylindrical shapes for the investigation: one is in the same hydraulic diameter as the square struts and another one is in the same cross section as the square struts. Influence of the shape of the struts on the static pressure characteristics, the internal flow and the sound emission of the small axial fans are studied. Standard K-e turbulence model and SIMPLE algorithm are applied in the calculation of the steady fluid field, and the curves of the pressure rising against the flow rate are obtained, which demonstrates that the simulation results are in nice consistence with the experimental data. The steady calculation results are set as the initial field in the unsteady calculation. Large eddy simulation and PISO algorithm are used in the transient calculation, and the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings model is introduced to predict the sound level at the eight monitoring points. The research results show that: the static pressure coefficients of the fan with cylindrical struts increase by about 25% compared to the fan with square struts, and the efficiencies increase by about 28.6%. The research provides a theoretical guide for shape optimization and noise reduction of small axial fan with struts.

The air-jet loom is widely used in the textile industry. The interaction mechanism of airflow and yarn is not clear in such a narrow flow channel, the gas consumption is relatively large, the yarn motion is unstable and the weft insertion is often interrupted during the operation. In order to study the characteristics of the semi-closed flow field in profiled dents, the momentum conservation equation is modified and the model parameters and boundary conditions are set. Compared with the different r, the ratio of profiled dent’s thickness and gap, the results show that the smaller the r is, the smaller the velocity fluctuations of the airflow is. When the angle of profiled dents α is close to zero, the diffusion of the airflow will be less. The experiment is also conducted to verify the result of the simulation with a high-speed camera and pressure sensor in profiled dents. The airflow characteristics in the semi-closed irregular narrow flow channel in the paper would provide the theoretical basis for optimizing the weft insertion process of the air-jet loom.

Compared with single rotor small axial flow fans, dual-rotor small axial flow fans is better regarding the static characteristics. But the aerodynamic noise of dual-rotor small axial flow fans is worse than that of single rotor small axial flow fans. In order to improve aerodynamic noise of dual-rotor small axial flow fans, the pre-stage blades with different perforation numbers are designed in this research. The RANS equations and the standard k-ɛ turbulence model as well as the FW-H noise model are used to simulate the flow field within the fan. Then, the aerodynamic performance of the fans with different perforation number is compared and analyzed. The results show that: (1) Compared to the prototype fan, the noise of fans with perforation blades is reduced. Additionally, the noise of the fans decreases with the increase of the number of perforations. (2) The vorticity value in the trailing edge of the pre-stage blades of perforated fans is reduced. It is found that the vorticity value in the trailing edge of the pre-stage blades decreases with the increase of the number of perforations. (3) Compared to the prototype fan, the total pressure rising and efficiency of the fans with perforation blades drop slightly.

To investigate the unsteady flow characteristics in centrifugal pump, the flow field in a low-specific-speed centrifugal pump with complex impeller is numerically simulated under different conditions. The RNG κ-ɛ turbulence model and sliding mesh are adopted during the process of computation. The results show that the interaction between impeller and volute results in the unstable flow of the fluid, which causes the uneven distribution of pressure fluctuations around the circumference of volute. Besides the main frequency and its multiple frequency of pressure fluctuations in the centrifugal pump, the frequency caused by the long blades of complex impeller also plays a dominant role in the low-frequency areas. Furthermore, there exists biggish fluctuation phenomenon near the tongue. The composition of static pressure fluctuations frequency on the volute wall and blade outlet is similar except that the fluctuation amplitude near the volute wall reduces. In general, the different flow rates mainly have influence on the amplitude of fluctuation frequency in the pump, while have little effect on the frequency composition.

The unique Coanda surface has a great influence on the performance of bladeless fan. However, there is few studies to explain the relationship between the performance and Coanda surface curvature at present. In order to gain a qualitative understanding of effect of the curvature on the performance of bladeless fan, numerical studies are performed in this paper. Firstly, three-dimensional numerical simulation is done by Fluent software. For the purpose to obtain detailed information of the flow field around the Coanda surface, two-dimensional numerical simulation is also conducted. Five types of Coanda surfaces with different curvature are designed, and the flow behaviour and the performance of them are analyzed and compared with those of the prototype. The analysis indicates that the curvature of Coanda surface is strongly related to blowing performance, It is found that there is an optimal curvature of Coanda surfaces among the studied models. Simulation result shows that there is a special low pressure region. With increasing curvature in Y direction, several low pressure regions gradually enlarged, then begin to merge slowly, and finally form a large area of low pressure. From the analyses of streamlines and velocity angle, it is found that the magnitude of the curvature affects the flow direction and reasonable curvature can induce fluid flow close to the wall. Thus, it leads to that the curvature of the streamlines is consistent with that of Coanda surface. Meanwhile, it also causes the fluid movement towards the most suitable direction. This study will provide useful information to performance improvements of bladeless fans.

Aerodynamic performance of an axial flow fan is closely related to its tip clearance leakage flow. In this paper, the hot-wire anemometer is used to measure the three dimensional mean velocity near the blade tips. Moreover, the filtered N-S equations with finite volume method and RNG k-ɛ turbulence model are adopted to carry out the steady simulation calculation of several fans that differ only in tip flange shape and number. The large eddy simulation and the FW-H noise models are adopted to carry out the unsteady numerical calculation and aerodynamic noise prediction. The results of simulation calculation agree roughly with that of tests, which proves the numerical calculation method is feasible.The effects of tip flange shapes and numbers on the blade tip vortex structure and the characteristics are analyzed. The results show that tip flange of the fan has a certain influence on the characteristics of the fan. The maximum efficiencies for the fans with tip flanges are shifted towards partial flow with respect to the design point of the datum fan. Furthermore, the noise characteristics for the fans with tip flanges have become more deteriorated than that for the datum fan. Tip flange contributes to forming tip vortex shedding and the effect of the half-cylinder tip flange on tip vortex shedding is obvious. There is a distinct relationship between the characteristics of the fan and tip vortex shedding. The research results provide the profitable reference for the internal flow mechanism of the performance optimization of small axial flow fans.

To investigate the influence of impeller type on the performance and inner flow of centrifugal pump, the numerical simulation and experimental research were carried out on the same centrifugal pump with straight-blade and curved-blade open impeller. Based on SIMPLEC algorithm, time-averaged N-S equation and the standard k-ɛ turbulence model, the numerical results are obtained. The pressure distribution in the different type impellers is uniform, while the low pressure area in straight-blade inlet is larger. The vortexes in the passage of impeller exist in both cases. Relative to curved-blade impeller, there are larger vortexes in most of the flow passages except the passage near the tongue in straight-blade impeller. Also some small backflow regions are found at the blade inlet of two impellers. The characteristic curves achieved by numerical simulation basically agree with those by experiment, and straight-blade open impeller centrifugal pump has a better hydraulic performance.

To reduce the influence of adverse flow conditions at the fan hub and improve fan aerodynamic performance, a modification of conventional axial fan blades with numerical and experimental investigation is presented. Hollow blade root is manufactured near the hub. The numerical and experimental results show that hollow blade root has some effect on the static performance. Static pressure of the modified fan is generally the same with that of the datum fan, while, the efficiency curve of the modified fan has a different trend with that of the datum fan. The highest efficiency of the modified fan is 10% greater than that of the datum fan. The orthogonal experimental results of fan noise show that hollow blade root is a feasible method of reducing fan noise, and the maximum value of noise reduction is about 2 dB. The factors affecting the noise reduction of hollow blade root are in the order of importance as follows: hollow blade margin, hollow blade height and hollow blade width. The much smoother pressure distribution of the modified fan than that of the datum fan is the main mechanism of noise reduction of hollow blade root. The research results will provide the proof of the parameter optimization and the structure design for high performance and low noise small axial fans.

To improve the aerodynamic performance of small axial flow fan, in this paper the design of a small axial flow fan with splitter blades is studied. The RNG k-ɛ turbulence model and SIMPLE algorithm were applied to the steady simulation calculation of the flow field, and its result was used as the initial field of the large eddy simulation to calculate the unsteady pressure field. The FW-H noise model was adopted to predict aerodynamic noise in the six monitoring points. Fast Fourier transform algorithm was applied to process the pressure signal. Experiment of noise testing was done to further investigate the aerodynamic noise of fans. And then the results obtained from the numerical simulation and experiment were described and analyzed. The results show that the static characteristics of small axial fan with splitter blades are similar with the prototype fan, and the static characteristics are improved within a certain range of flux. The power spectral density at the six monitoring points of small axial flow fan with splitter blades have decreased to some extent. The experimental results show sound pressure level of new fan has reduced in most frequency bands by comparing with prototype fan. The research results will provide a proof for parameter optimization and noise prediction of small axial flow fans with high performance.

In order to analyze the influence of blade outlet angle on inner flow field and performance of low-specific-speed centrifugal pump, the flow field in the pump with different blade outlet angles 32.5°and 39° was numerically calculated. The external performance experiment was also carried out on the pump. Based on SIMPLEC algorithm, time-average N-S equation and the rectified k-e turbulent model were adopted during the process of computation. The distributions of velocity and pressure in pumps with different blade outlet angles were obtained by calculation. The numerical results show that backflow areas exist in the two impellers, while the inner flow has a little improvement in the impeller with larger blade outlet angle. Blade outlet angle has a certain influence on the static pressure near the long-blade leading edge and tongue, but it has little influence on the distribution of static pressure in the passages of impeller. The experiment results show that the low-specific-speed centrifugal pump with larger blade outlet angle has better hydraulic performance.

Transient performance of fluid machinery during transient operating periods, such as startup and stopping, has been drawn more attentions recently due to the growing engineering needs. In this paper, the transient behavior of a prototype centrifugal pump with an open impeller during rapid startup period is studied experimentally. The variations of the rotational speed, flow rate, head, and shaft power during rapid startup period are recorded in experiments at different discharge valve openings. In addition, the non-dimensional flow rate and head are also used to analyze the transient behavior. The research result shows that the rise characteristic of the rotational speed is not basically changed by working points, while mainly depends on the startup characteristics of the driving motor. Compared with the rapid rise of the rotational speed, the flow rate rises slowly in the initial stage of startup. Moreover, the flow rate lags behind the rotational speed to rise to final stable value, and the delay becomes more severe with the increase of the discharge valve opening. The shaft power impact phenomenon generally exists in the process of startup. The non-dimensional analysis shows that the non-dimensional head is very high at the very beginning of startup, and quickly falls to the minimum, then gradually rises to final stable value, while the non-dimensional flow rate always shows the rise tendency during whole startup period. In conclusion, it is found from the non-dimensional results that the quasi-steady analysis is unable to accurately assess the transient flow during startup period.

Based on the Navier-Stokes equations and the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model, three dimensional turbulent flow fields in centrifugal pump with long-mid-short blade complex impeller are calculated and analyzed numerically. The relative velocity and pressure distributions in the flowpart are obtained. It is found that the flow in the passage of the complex impeller is unsymmetrical due to the joint action between volute and impeller. The back-flow region is at inlet of long-blade suction side, near middle part of long-blade pressure side and outlet of short-blade suction side. The flow near volute throat is affected greatly by volute. The relative velocity is large and it is easy to bring back flow at outlet of the complex impeller near volute throat. The static and total pressure rise uniformly from inlet to outlet in the impeller. At impeller outlet, the pressure periodically decreases from pressure side to suction side, and then the static pressure sharply rise near the throat. The experimental results show that the back flow in the impeller has an important influence on the performance of pump.

Many factors such as outer diameter, hub ratio, blade numbers, shape and stagger angle affect the performance of small cooling fans. A small cooling fan was simulated using CFD software for three blade stagger angles (30.5°, 37.5°, 44.5°)and obtained the internal flow field and the static characteristics. Research indicated that the stagger angle has an obvious effect on the static characteristics of a fan. For flow rates below 0.0104 m3/s, total pressure is the greatest when the stagger angle is 37.5°; flow rates higher than 0.0104 m3/s, the total pressure is greatest when the stagger angle is 44.5° For the same flow rates, the velocity at inlet of pressure surface increases with increasing stagger angle, but the change of velocity on the suction surface is very small. For one model, vortices and the speed of revolution surfaces decrease with tip clearance increasing. But for other three models, increasing the stagger angle, the vortex intensity and speed of revolution surfaces at same height tip clearance increases, simultaneously, the position of vortex offset from the top of the rotor blade to the suction surface.