CFD modelling of air flow distribution from a fan

Abstract

This paper presents a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling simulation of air flow distribution from an automotive radiator fan. An introduction to the nature of the physical fan air flow problem and its significance was elaborated in order to understand the complications involved in the research and thereafter arrive at the objectives. Knowing the physical situation is crucial in the application of CFD to numerically model and thereby analyse the simulation. The tasks undertaken to model the geometries of the fan and its surrounding is the first important step. This is followed by meshing and defining the boundary conditions before numerically solving the variables that represent flow fields of the simulation. The numerical predictions of the variables in the form of velocity vectors and contour plots detailing the flow characteristics are then analysed, compared and verified according to known physical situation and existing experimental data. The result shows that the average velocity outlet air velocity is 10 m/s. The error of average outlet air velocity is 12.6 % due to dissimilarity in the tip shape of the blade. This study has shown that the CFD simulation can be useful tool in optimizing the design of the fan blade