Numerical and experimental study on aerodynamic performance of small axial flow fan with splitter blades

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.