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Internal Flow Characteristics of a Variable Pitch Axial Fan Under Abnormal

Installation Angles of a Single Blade

Article  in  Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience · July 2011

DOI: 10.1166/asl.2011.1378

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 RESEARCH ARTICLE
Copyright © 2011 American Scientific Publishers Advanced Science Letters
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Vol. 4, 2164–2169, 2011

Internal Flow Characteristics of a Variable

Pitch Axial Fan Under Abnormal Installation
Angles of a Single Blade
Xuemin Ye∗ , Chunxi Li, Songling Wang, and Jun Li
Key Lab of Condition Monitoring and Control for Power Plant Equipment,
North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071003, China

The variable-pitch axial fans frequently experience the non-synchronous regulation of installation angle of one
or several adjustable blades deviating from other blades in practice. Many operators and engineers have already
paid more attention on this phenomenon owing to its adverse effect on operational performance. The internal
flow characteristics and performance curves with a single blade in normal and three abnormal installation angles
are simulated with Fluent for the variable pitch axial fan of OB-84 type. Simulated investigations show that under
normal installation angle of blades, a higher pressure zone is yielded in the pressure side of trailing edge, while
the lower pressure zone is focused on the blade tip and root sections. For abnormal installation angle of a
single blade, the trailing edge losses of abnormal blade increases with worsening of installation angle and the
Delivered
pressure gradient in pressure side decreases by Ingenta
from leading edge toto:trailing edge. The deviation of installation
North on
angle has a prominent degradation China
radial Electric
total pressurePower University
in middle blade region. The effect of installation
angle of abnormal blade on fan efficiency IP :
is quite121.52.160.18
remarkable than that on full pressure, and the full pressure
 
basically keeps a same value under Mon,y of 005 ∼12Sep, while
2011 the 07:56:03
efficiency declines notably.

Keywords: Variable-Pitch Axial Fan, Adjustable Blade, Abnormal Installation Angle, Internal Flow,
Performance Curve.

1. INTRODUCTION and practice. It is of importance to explore this phenomenon and

The variable pitch axial fans with the high-efficiency zone in the effects on flow dynamics and performance curves.
different flow-rates have been widely used in power engineer- Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to describe the internal
ing, chemical fields, coalmine ventilation and energy utilization. flow dynamics with present experimental methods due to highly
complex structure and many rotary parts. The numerical model-
A tendency for alternating centrifugal fans with variable pitch
ing with CFD techniques is a preferred method for investigating
axial fans is more pronounced with increasing capacity of sys-
flow characteristics. Heretofore, the present simulations on fans
tems. Unfortunately, the poor performance and frequent failures
are mostly focused on centrifugal fans,7–10 the axial fan for air-
of axial fans are common phenomena owing to the complex and
conditioning, the effect of varying performance parameters on fan
precise structure of rotors, a large number of rotary parts and
efficiency,11–12 the vortex flows in axial flow13–14 and the effect
so on. At present, the published literatures on the failures of
of tip leakage flow and secondary flow.15–17 The investigation of
such axial flow fans are mainly concerned with stalling, surg-
simulation on deviating installation angle of blades have not been
ing, blade fracture, bearing heating and vibration.1–6 The practi-
reported so far. The aim of present paper is to simulate the inter-
cal preventive measures have been suggested for above failures
nal flow dynamics of impeller with the blade angles normally
and excellent results have been achieved in many applications.1–2
installed and a single blade with abnormal installation angles for
Operating practice shows that the phenomena of fan efficiency
the variable pitch axial fan of OB-84 type, and to be better under-
decreasing and noise increasing caused by the installation angle
standing the effect of abnormal installation angle of single blade
of several blades deviating from normal installation angle are on internal flow characteristics, fan output and efficiency.
frequently occurred in power stations and are induced more atten-
tion for operators and researchers. However, the internal flow
characteristics and the relation of performance curves with abnor- 2. NUMERICAL SIMULATION
mal installation angles have not been investigated so far in theory 2.1. Physical Model
The variable pitch axial fan of OB-84 type with back guide
∗
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. vanes is selected as the simulated model in present paper. The

2164 Adv. Sci. Lett. Vol. 4, No. 6/7, 2011 1936-6612/2011/4/2164/006 doi:10.1166/asl.2011.1378
Adv. Sci. Lett. 4, 2164–2169, 2011
2D
0.6D
1.7D
Fig. 1. A schematic diagram of axial fan of OB-84 type.
structure parameters and aerodynamic performance is referred in
reference.18 The particular feature of the fan is that the pressure
loss in radial direction is considered in the design of adjustable
blade. In addition, the chord length of blade, the installation
angle of airfoil and midline curvature radius are optimized, and
fan efficiency reaches to a maximum at designed flow-rate. Con-
sequently, the fan has a greater high-efficiency zone in broad
flow-rate. The schematic diagram of fan model is illustrated in
Figure 1.
2.2. Grid Division
Based on the inherent structure of axial fan, the grid division
method is used with mesh refinement in local zones. The com-
putation domain contains all the flow passages from collector
to the space leaving diffuser, namely, including the inlet region,
the adjustable blade region, the guide vanes region and dif-
fuser region. And the flow passage of adjustable blade is cho-
sen as a moving one, while other regions are stationary.
Delivered The by Ingenta
non-structural grid is adopted in present simulation, and total
North China Electric Power University
mesh number is approximately 1.4 million inclusive of 0.66 mil-
IP : 121.52.160.18
lion in adjustable blade region and 0.47 million in guide vane
Mon,
region, which adequately and clearly illustrating internal 05 flow
Sep 2011
characteristics.
2.3. Determination of Boundary Conditions
The inlet of fan collector and outlet of diffuser are selected as the
inlet and outlet of computation region. The inlet velocity is used
as inlet boundary condition, and the turbulent kinetic energy and
dissipation rate are determined by empirical correlations. 19
The published literatures show that the Realizable k– tur-
bulent model is highly suitable for the following phenomena,
including the boundary layer separation inclusive of adverse pres-
sure gradient and partial rotation, the secondary flow and recir-
culation flow.20 So, the present governing equations including the
Navier-Stokes equation and Realizable k– turbulent model are
solved with the SIMPLE method based on Fluent software. The
variables and viscous parameters in governing equations are dis-
cretized with the second-order upwind scheme, and the standard
wall function is utilized in near wall region.19
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In order to investigate the internal flow dynamics and operat-
ing performance with the installation angle deviating from given
value, the deviating installation angles (y  of a single blade
are assumed to be 6 , 12 and 18 , respectively, which is basi-
cally consistent with practical conditions. The case of y = 0
represents all the adjustable blades is in state of synchronous
regulation.
RESEARCH ARTICLE
3.1. Pressure Distribution in Outlet Plane of Impeller
The total pressure distribution in outlet plane of impeller has
a prominent effect on following flow field. The total pressure
contour under design flow-rate is presented in Figure 2, and the
rotating direction of impeller is clockwise.
Figure 2(a) indicates that the pressure pattern may be divided
into main flow region (higher pressure) and non-main flow region
(lower pressure). The total pressure of main region locating at
neighboring blades is higher than that of non-main region locat-
ing at blade tip and root. The reason is possibly that the regions
of blade tip and root are adversely influenced by the effects
of thicker boundary layer and trailing edge loss at wall region.
The total pressure in radial region adjacent to abnormal blade
increases markedly at y of 6 , and the lower pressure area at
trailing edge decreases and tends to move to the middle section
of blade (showed as Circle A). With increasing of y (Figs. 2(c
and d)), the total pressure in neighboring abnormal blade will
be further augmented, while the average total pressure at out-
let plane tends to diminish. In addition, the trailing edge losses
of abnormal blade inclines to increase, and the region of low-
est pressure is expanded and the value will be further decreased
(showed as Circle B and Circle C). It can be found from here
that the flow losses induced by abnormal blade are concentrated
on the middle section with increasing of y .
3.2. Radial Pressure Distribution in Outlet Plane
The radial distribution of outlet total pressure under design flow-
rate is given in Figure 3 for possible y . It can be clearly
seen that to:
the total pressure increases with radius and sharply
reduces in blade tip region due to the local losses induced by
the tip leakage flow disturbing the main flow. When the installa-
tion angle deviating specified value, the total pressure increases
07:56:03
at first and then decreases with increasing of y , and the vari-
ation tendency of radial total pressure is remarkably distinct at
different radius. From the blade root to 25% of blade height,
that is, 06 < h/R < 07, the total pressure increases linearly and
the increased degrees of pressure are nearly same with increment
of y . At 07 < h/R < 09, the increasing slopes of total pres-
sure are approximately same under y = 0 , 6 and 12 , while
declines significantly at y = 18 . In the region of 09 < h/R <
10, the decreasing slopes are also similar for all the deviations of
installation angle. It can be noted from Figure 3 that the effect of
y on the radial total pressure is mainly focused on the domain
of 07 < h/R < 09, that is to say, the deviation of installation
angle has a significant influence on the middle section of blade,
which is well agreement with those results in Figure 2. Numer-
ical simulation verifies that the average outlet total pressure of
y = 18 decreases by 6.8% compared with that of y = 0 .
3.3. Pressure Characteristics in Axial Stream Surfaces
Three annular stream surfaces A, B and C showed in Figure 4 are
used to explore for axial flow characteristics. Surface A is close
to the hub (located at 10% of blade height, R = 480), Surface B
locates the intermediate section (located at 50% of blade height,
R = 600), and Surface C is adjacent to the blade tip (located at
90% of blade height, R = 720).
The total pressure distributions under design flow-rate are
illustrated in Figures 5∼7. It is noted from Figure 5(a) that for
Surface A under normal installation angle, the total pressure on
pressure side tends to increase from the leading edge to trailing
2165
RESEARCH ARTICLE Adv. Sci. Lett. 4, 2164–2169, 2011

(a) Δβy = 0° 3200

3100

Total pressure (Pa)

3000

2900

ω 2800
Δβy =0°
Δβy =6°
2700 Δβy =12°
Δβy =18°

2600
(b) Δβy = 6° 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
h/R

Fig. 3. Radial pressure distribution in outlet plane of impeller.

action of adverse pressure gradient in flow direction. The local

total pressure in trailing edge decreases remarkably due to the
A possible effect of the wake flow and associated energy losses in
airfoil trailing section.
ω When the installation angle of a single blade is departed from
angle of others, the total pressure distribution in flow passage
around abnormal blade and neighboring blades is distinctly dif-
ferent from that in Figure 5(a). For case of y = 6 shown in
Figure 5(b), the total pressure on pressure side of abnormal blade
(c) Δβy = 12°
is enlarged, and the pressure gradient in flow direction is lower
Delivered by Ingenta
than that ofto:neighboring normal blade. On the contrary, the pres-
North China Electric Power University
sure gradient in suction side of abnormal blade is greater than
that of normal blades. The reason is that the increasing instal-
IP : 121.52.160.18
Mon, 05 Sep 2011lation angle of abnormal blade leads to an increment of nega-
07:56:03
tive attack angle between inflow and inlet edge, and yields the
greater pressure gradient in suction side and increased trailing
B edge losses. With increasing y showed in Figures 5(c) and (d),
the total pressure on suction and pressure sides of abnormal blade
ω
decreases at y = 12 and increases at y = 18 compared
with Figure 5(b), and the pressure distribution around neighbor-
ing blades has same tendency. Especially, the higher pressure
region of 3806 Pa expands to the whole abnormal blade in pres-
(d) Δβy = 18° sure side and the pressure region of 4944 Pa only expands in
passage tail (Fig. 5(d)).
For case of Surface B situated in the middle section of blade,
Figure 6(a) displays that under normal installation angle, the total
pressure contour maps are entirely same in each flow passage,

Abnormal blade
C

ω C
B

Fig. 2. Total pressure distribution in outlet plane of impeller.

edge, and the higher pressure region is concentrated on the blade

tail region. For the suction side, the pressure difference between
the leading and trailing edges is greater, and the possibility of
flow separation in trailing edge could be enhanced under the Fig. 4. A diagram of characteristic stream surfaces.

2166
Adv. Sci. Lett. 4, 2164–2169, 2011 RESEARCH ARTICLE

(a) Δβy =0 Total-pressure (a) Δβy =0°

3190.05
2286.69 2888.93
2286.69
2587.81 2587.81
2587.81 2587.81 2587.81 2286.69
1985.57
1684.45
2286.6 228 1383.33
9 2286.6 6.6 1082.21
9 9 781.09
479.97
.45 1985.57 1985.57 1985.57 178.85
–122.27
781

78 –423.39
781.09 –724.51
.09

1.0
–1025.63
9
–1326.75
–1627.87
–1928.99

(b) Δβy =6° Total-pressure

(b) Δβy =6°
3913.43
3187.65 3550.54
3550.54 3550.54 3187.65
3187.65 2824.77
2461.88
2098.99
1736.1
3187.65 1373.21
282
4.7 2824 1010.32
7 .77 647.436
2461.88 284.548
2098.99 209 –78.3406
8.9 –441.229
9
13

–804.117
73

–1167.01
.21

1010.32 1373.21 –1529.89

–1892.78
–2255.67
(c) Δβy = 12° A
(c) Δβy =12° Total-pressure
4212.32
2996.16 3806.93
4212.32 3401.54
3401.54 2996.16
2590.77 2590.77
2185.38
1779.99
3401.54 1374.61
2996.16 969.219
2185
.38
Delivered by Ingenta to:
563.831
158.444
2185.38 North China Electric Power University
1779.99
–246.944
–652.332
1374.61
969.219 IP : 121.52.160.18
–1057.72
–1463.11
563.831
Mon, 05 Sep 2011 07:56:03
–1868.49
–2273.88
–2679.27
(d) Δβy = 18° B
(d) Δβy =18° Total-pressure
.83 4943.94
26
34 4564.66
4943.94 4185.39
3806.11
3426.83 3806.11 3426.83
3047.56
2668.28
3806.11 2289
1909.73
3047.56 3426.83 1530.45
30

1151.18
47

3047.56 771.899
.56

392.622
13.3459
19

2289
–365.931
09

–745.207
.73

1530.45 –1124.48
–1503.76
Fig. 6. Total pressure distribution in stream surface B.
Fig. 5. Total pressure distribution in stream surface A.

higher pressure region yielded in suction side not only occupies

and a lower pressure region is yielded in the leading edge of
suction side. Under case of y = 6 (Fig. 6(b)), the pressure
variations in both pressure and suction sides of abnormal blade
is basically similar with that in Figure 5(b), that is, the total
pressure in pressure side is enhanced and the pressure gradient in
flow direction is smaller than that of normal blade. Deterioration
of the installation angle of abnormal blade leads the pressure
distribution in trailing ledge to be more complicated given in
Figures 6(c) and (d) than that in Figures 5(c) and (d). And the
degradation of pressure value in trailing ledge is further induced
by the augmentation of trailing edge losses as indicated by Circle
A in Figure 6(c) and by Circle B in Figure 6(d). Furthermore, the
nearly half of flow passage and reaches the middle section of
airfoil, but the pressure value tends to enlarge with y from 12
to 18 . Compared with pressure characteristics in Figure 5, the
stream-wise pressure gradient in suction side of abnormal blade
will continuously increase.
The total pressure pattern in Surface C adjacent to blade
tip is illustrated in Figure 7. It can be seen that the pres-
sure pattern experiences a first-increasing, then-decreasing, and
finally-increasing tendency with y , which is well agree-
ment with pressure results in the region of 09 < h/R < 10
showed in Figure 3. It should be emphasized that under y =
12 (Fig. 7(c)), the higher pressure region limited in trailing

2167
RESEARCH ARTICLE Adv. Sci. Lett. 4, 2164–2169, 2011

(a) Δβy =0° 2600

2400

Full pressure (Pa)

2200

2000

1800 Δβy =0°

Δβy =6°
1600 Δβy =12°
(b) Δβy =6° Δβy =18°

1400
0.85 0.90 0.95 1.00 1.05 1.10 1.15 1.20 1.25 1.30
qV qV
η max

Fig. 8. Variation of full pressure under deviated installation angles.

3.4. Effect on Performance Curves

It is of great importance for engineers to grasp the macro-impact
of abnormal blade on fan performance curves inclusive of full
(c) Δβy =12°
pressure and efficiency with flow-rate. In order to explore the
effect of y on the operation performance, the full pressure and
efficiency curves are presented in Figures 8 and 9 for four cases
of installation angle of abnormal blade.
It can be showed that the performance curves are quite dif-
ferent with and without abnormal blade, especially for efficiency
Delivered by Ingenta to: design flow-rate, the full pressure increases with
curve. Under
0 to 6 and then decreases with y from 6 to 18 .
y fromUniversity
North China Electric Power
The possible reason is that with increasing of y , the increased
IP : 121.52.160.18
Mon, 05 Sep 2011value of full pressure is beyond that of flow losses; once y
07:56:03
exceeding a critical value, the opposite results will be emerged.
(d) Δβy =18°
In addition, the variation of full pressure is relatively weak at
y of 0 ∼12 , whereas the full pressure decreases by 4.8%
under y = 18 compared with the pressure under y = 0 .
Figure 9 shows that the fan efficiency under whole flow-rate
declines with increase of y , which is not distinctly consis-
tent with change of full pressure curves. The decreased value
reaches a maximum at design flow-rate, namely, the efficiency

0.84

0.82
Fig. 7. Total pressure distribution in stream surface C.
0.80

edge of suction side is relatively smaller compared with that

Efficiency

0.78
in Figure 6(c). Nevertheless, the higher pressure region under
y = 18 (Fig. 7(d)) occupies the nearly whole flow passage and 0.76
closes to the leading edge, which is distinctly different from that
0.74 Δβy =0°
in Figure 6(d). In addition, with worsening of y , the stream-
Δβy =6°
wise pressure gradient in suction side of is intensified to some 0.72 Δβy =12°
extent, and the trailing edge losses tends to decrease. Δβy =18°
Based on above analysis in characteristic surfaces, under case 0.70
of y = 0∼6 , the installation angle of abnormal blade has a
0.85 0.90 0.95 1.00 1.05 1.10 1.15 1.20 1.25 1.30
similar influence on stream-wise pressure distribution, and with
increasing of y , the trailing losses of abnormal blade behaves qV qV
η max
a first increasing and then decreasing tendency along blade
height. Fig. 9. Variation of fan efficiency under deviated installation angles.

2168
 Adv. Sci. Lett. 4, 2164–2169, 2011 RESEARCH ARTICLE

decreases by 2.4%, 4.0% and 6.8% under y of 6 , 12 and
18 , respectively. In addition, the decreased efficiency tends to be
lower when flow-rate is above the design value. It is worth noting
from Figures 8 and 9 that under y of 0 ∼12 , the full pres-
sure basically keeps a similar value, while the efficiency declines
prominently in whole domain of interest.
under y = 0 , and fan efficiency reduces by 2.4%, 4.0% and
6.8% with y of 6 , 12 and 18 for an abnormal single blade.
Acknowledgments: The Committee of ISMST 2010
acknowledges the support from American Scientific Publisher for
publishing the accepted paper in Advanced Science Letters.

References and Notes

4. CONCLUSIONS
1. L. F. Cheng and X. R. Xu, J. Eng. Therm. Energy Power. 3, 96 (2006).
The variable pitch axial flow fan with OB-84 type is selected as 2. H. Cao, Fluid Mach. 35, 39 (2007).
physical model for simulation with Fluent software. The inter- 3. A. Gerard, A. Berry, and P. Masson, J. Sound Vib. 288, 1049 (2005).
4. A. Gerard, A. Berry, and P. Masson, J. Sound Vib. 288, 1077 (2005).
nal flow dynamics under the normal and abnormal conditions of 5. T. Carolus, M. Schneider, and H. Reese, J. Sound Vib. 300, 50 (2007).
installation angle of a single blade is simulated and the perfor- 6. Y. M. Li and Z. G. Zhou, J. China Univ. Min. Technol. 18, 0107 (2008).
mance curves are investigated. Simulated results show that: 7. C. X. Li, Y. Lei, S. L. Wang, and X. M. Ye, Proceedings of CSEE. 26, 117
(2006).
Under design conditions, the total pressure in pressure side 8. C. X. Li and S. L. Wang, Front. Energy Power Eng. China. 2, 235 (2008).
increases from the leading edge to trailing edge, and a higher 9. Y. K. Lü, J. Wang, and J. Zhang, J. Eng. Therm. Energy Power. 23, 131
pressure zone is occurred in the tail of pressure side. The adverse (2008).
10. S. Yuan, Advances in hydraulic design of centrifugal pumps, Proceedings of
pressure gradient is yielded in suction side and the total pres- the 1997 ASME Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting, Vancouver,
sure in trailing edge obviously declines. The outlet total pressure Canada, June (1997), PP. 22–26.
increases with radius and declines notably at blade tip, and the 11. D. N. Serensen, J. Sound Vib. 274, 305 (2001).
12. K. Gérald, K. Smaïne, and W. R. Gary, Flow Meas. Instrum. 17, 303 (2006).
flow losses induced by increasing y is focused on the mid- 13. E. E. Elhadi and K. Q. Wu, Comput. Fluid Dyn. 7, 199 (2002).
dle section of blade. The average total pressure at outlet plane 14. E. E. Elhadi and K. Q. Wu, Pak. J. Inf. Technol. 1, 528 (2002).
decreases with y , and the lower pressure region emerged at 15. X. C. Zhu, W. L. Lin, and Z. H. Du, Shanghai Jiaotong Daxue Xuebao 39, 177
(2005).
impeller outlet is expanded, while the total pressure of neighbor-
16. X. C. Zhu, W. L. Lin, and Z. H. Du, J. Fluid Eng. 127, 299 (2005).
ing passages tends to increase. 17. W. Li and G. Q. Wang, Shanghai Jiaotong Daxue Xuebao 34, 1708 (2000).
With worsening of y , the full pressure presents a firstly- 18. B. Eck (ed.), Ventilator, China Machine Press, Beijing (1983).
increasing and then decreasing tendency, and the fan effi- 19. W. Q. Tao (ed.), Numerical Heat Transfer, Xi’an Jiaotong Universtiy Press,
Xi’an (1988).
ciency decreases under consideration of y . The full pressure 20. X. M. Ye, J. Li, S. L. Wang, and C. X. Li, J. Eng. Therm. Energy Power. 24, 163
decreases by 4.8% under y = 18 compared with the pressure (2009).
Delivered by Ingenta to:
North China Electric Power University
IP : 121.52.160.18 Received: 28 May 2010. Accepted: 6 August 2010.
Mon, 05 Sep 2011 07:56:03

2169

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