Stereoscopic PIV measurements of flow in and around axial flow fan

Abstract

To analyze the complex three-dimensional flow structure of an axial flow fan and determine the validity of its application, PIV is used to provide detailed space and time resolved experimental data for understanding and control of flow field. The high resolution stereoscopic PIV system was successfully employed in this study for the investigation of flow structure around the axial flow fan. Using the once-per-revolution signal from the rotor, image fields were captured at a fixed position of the blades and hence provides the ability to do phase-averaging. The three-dimensional instantaneous velocity fields, phase-averaged velocity fields, instantaneous and mean vorticity distributions of the stereoscopic PIV measurement results were represented at typical planes of the flow field. Phase-averaged velocity fields were calculated based on 200 frames of the instantaneous stereoscopic PIV measurement results. From the velocity distribution, the vorticity and turbulent intensity distribution, which are known to be major factors of fan noise, were calculated and its diffusion was discussed as they travel downstream. From the reconstructed three-dimensional velocity iso-surface at 8 cross planes of the outlet flow fields, the three-dimensional features can be seen clearly.