Analysis of axial-flow ventilation fans by vortex-lattice method

Abstract

A steady vortex-lattice method is used to solve the lifting surface equation for an axial flow fan. The type of fan studied is designed for industrial and ventilation applications and in thermofluid systems such as cooling towers. The fan blades are thin cambered surfaces manufactured from metal sheets. The numerical approach is inviscid and results in a boundary value problem with viscous effects partially accounted for by application of drag coefficient data. A non-linear wake alignment procedure is used to account for the effects of vorticity shedding in the wake and variation in wake geometry with operating conditions. The wake alignment procedure is semi-free with wake input parameters required for accurate use of the technique. A study of the wake parameters was conducted and gave trends in the variation of their values with flow rate. At "free-air" conditions, flow visualization estimates of these parameters were found to agree with those from the computations. Comparisons are made between the measured and predicted fan performance with and without a surrounding duct. The comparison of the results were especially good at the "free-air" condition using wake parameters determined from flow visualization and an inlet velocity profile measured using hot-wire anemometry.