Efficient Prediction of Broadband Noise of a Centrifugal Fan Using U-FRPM Technique

Abstract

Recently, a lot of studies have been made about the methods used to generate turbulent velocity fields stochastically in order to effectively predict broadband flow noise. Among them, the FRPM (Fast Random Particle Mesh) method which generates turbulence with specific statistical properties using turbulence kinetic energy and dissipation obtained from the steady solution of the RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes) equations has been successfully applied. However, the FRPM method cannot be applied to the flow noise problems involving intrinsic unsteady characteristics such as centrifugal fan. In this paper, to effectively predict the broadband noise generated by centrifugal fan, U-FRPM (unsteady FRPM) method is developed by extending the FRPM method to be combined with the unsteady numerical solutions of the unsteady RANS equations to generate the turbulence considered as broadband noise sources. Firstly, an unsteady flow field is obtained from the unsteady RANS equations through CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). Then, noise sources are generated using the U-FRPM method combined with acoustic analogy. Finally, the linear propagation model which is realized through BEM (Boundary Element Method) is combined with the generated sources to predict broadband noise at the listeners' position. The proposed technique is validated to compare its prediction result with the measured data.