Measurement of unsteady surface pressure on rotor blades of fans by pressure-sensitive paint

Abstract

To clarify the unsteady pressure distributions on the rotor blades of an axial fan, a pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique was used. To capture the image of the rotating fan as a static image, an optical derotator method with a dove prism was adopted. It was confirmed by preliminary experiments with a resonator and a speaker that the pressure fluctuations with 347 Hz can be measured by the present PSP. The measured mean pressure distributions were compared with the predicted results based on large-eddy simulations. The measured instantaneous surface pressure is instrumental to identify acoustic source of fan noise in the design stage.