Applied Acoustics 104 (2016) 182–192

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Applied Acoustics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apacoust

Experimental investigation of metal foam for controlling centrifugal fan

noise
Chen Xu, Yijun Mao ⇑
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710049, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents an experimental investigation on the metal foam for controlling a centrifugal fan
Received 22 July 2015 noise. Nine samples of metal foam with different types of cells, i.e., open, semi-open and close, are
Received in revised form 12 November 2015 employed to compare their effects on the aerodynamic performance and noise level of the centrifugal
Accepted 17 November 2015
fan. Experimental data confirms that the open cell metal foam is the most effective to control the fan
Available online 7 December 2015
noise because it not only significantly suppresses the tonal noise but also attenuates the broadband noise.
Moreover, the geometrical parameters of the open cell metal foam, i.e., pores per inch and porosity, are
Keywords:
studied to investigate their effects on the aerodynamic performance and noise level of the centrifugal fan.
Centrifugal fan
Noise control
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Metal foam
Experimental investigation
Porous material

1. Introduction A new type of multifunctional porous material, i.e. metal foam

Controlling noise level of centrifugal fans is highly demanded in
many engineering applications. Previous studies have indicated
that the tonal noise generated from the periodic flow interaction
between the impeller and the volute tongue is usually predomi-
nant [1–6]. Additionally, the noise level of the broadband compo-
nent is lower than that of the tonal component, but its
contribution to the overall noise level is also non-negligible and
its generation mechanism is more complicated.
Many passive noise control methods have been developed to
control the centrifugal fan noise. All the passive methods can be
categorized into two aspects: suppression of the noise source
strength and absorption of the acoustic energy. Usually, the first
control method is suitable for controlling the tonal noise by sup-
pressing the surface pressure fluctuation of the volute tongue.
Some methods, such as increasing the impeller-tongue clearance
and inclining the volute tongue [7–9], have been reported to suc-
cessfully reduce the tonal noise level. The second control method
is to absorb the broadband noise components, where the porous
materials, e.g. micro-perforated panel and fiberglass, are com-
monly employed owing to its good acoustic absorption perfor-
mance in wide frequency range. Gu et al. [10] has developed a
structure combined with the micro-perforated panel, fiberglass
and air cavity to control the broadband noise of a centrifugal fan.
[11–14], has been developed since the 90s of the last century.
Because of its excellent fire-, moisture- and corrosion-proof advan-
tages over the conventional porous material, metal foam has
extensive application fields [15,16]. Based on the previous studies,
the porous material with the pore size about sub-millimeter has a
good acoustic absorption performance mainly through the mecha-
nism of the viscous and thermal dissipation [11,14]. Sutliff et al.
has showed that metal foam with the pore size about 0.3 mm
can achieve up to 4–5 dB of broadband attenuation for the turbofan
noise [17,18]. Another function of the metal foam is to control flow,
such as postponing the flow separation from the buff body [19,20],
suppressing the wall pressure fluctuation (i.e. dipole source
strength) [21,22]. Sueki has reported the application of the metal
foam to control the noise of the cylinder and high-speed train [23].
The volute tongue is the primary noise source region of cen-
trifugal fans owing to the strong and periodic impingent of the
wake flow out from the blades. In the present paper, the volute
tongue made by the metal foam is employed to reduce the noise
radiated from a centrifugal fan. Various samples of metal foam
with different structural parameters are investigated experimen-
tally. The aims of the present research are to validate the applica-
tion of the metal foam for controlling the centrifugal fan noise and
to study the effect of the structural parameters of the metal foam
on the noise reduction of the centrifugal fan.

⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 29 82668723.

E-mail address: maoyijun@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (Y. Mao).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2015.11.014
0003-682X/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 C. Xu, Y. Mao / Applied Acoustics 104 (2016) 182–192 183

Nomenclature

dp pore size, mm CCMF close cell metal foam

m mass of the metal foam, kg OASPL overall A-weighted sound pressure level
Vp pore volume of the metal foam, m3 OCMF open cell metal foam
Vt total volume of the metal foam, m3 PPI pores per inch
e porosity SCMF semi-open cell metal foam
qs density of skeletal material, kg m3 SPL sound pressure level
TPR total pressure rise
Abbreviations VFR volume flow rate
BEP best efficiency point

2. Experimental setup and method
2.1. Centrifugal fan
As shown in Fig. 1, a forward-curved centrifugal fan is employed
in the present study owing to its relative high speed at the impeller
outlet. The periodic impingement of the flow from the impeller
outlet on the volute tongue easily causes the serious tonal noise
associated with the broadband component [3,10]. Since the num-
ber of the impeller blades is 12 and the nominal rotating speed
of the impeller is 2900 r/min, the corresponding blade passing fre-
quency (BPF) is 580 Hz. This centrifugal fan has been used in the
previous studies, and the detailed structural parameters can be
found in Refs. [10,24].
2.2. Metal foam
The installation position of the metal foam is shown in Fig. 1 to
substitute the conventional volute tongue made by the non-porous
material. Various samples of the metal foam employed in the pre-
sent study are displayed in Fig. 2. According to the different kinds
of connectivity among porous cells, metal foams can be classified
into the following three types: close cell metal foam (CCMF),
semi-open cell metal foam (SCMF) and open cell metal foam
(OCMF).
The sample C1 is a CCMF. Since the pores of the CCMF mostly do
not connect with each other and the ambient gas, the previous
study has shown that the CCMF has a good acoustic insulation
performance but is not an effective acoustic absorber [11]. In the
present study, one sample is still employed to investigate its effect
on the aerodynamic performance and noise of the centrifugal fan.
Samples O1–O6 are OCMFs with different porosities and pore
sizes. Opposite to the CCMF, each pore of the OCMF connects with
the adjacent pores and the ambient gas. The porosity e and pore
size dp are two important geometrical parameters to characterize
the OCMF. The porosity e of the metal foam is defined by
Vp
e¼ ð1Þ
Vt
where V p and V t are the pore volume and total volume of the metal
foam, respectively. Since the pore volume is not easily directly mea-
sured, the porosity e is actually calculated as
m
e¼1 ð2Þ
qs V t
where m is the mass of the porous material sample, qs is the density
of skeletal material. Moreover, pores per inch (PPI) is usually
employed to characterize the pore size of the foam metal which is
defined by
25:4
PPI ¼ ð3Þ
dp
Another commonly used parameter is the flow resistivity,
which usually has an important effect on both the flow loss and
the acoustic absorption performance. Based on the Ergun’s
equation [25], the flow resistance is related to not only the geomet-
rical parameters of the OCMF, i.e., porosity e, pore size dp , but also
the viscosity and flow velocity. In the present study, we do not

Fig. 1. CAD drawings of centrifugal fan: (a) two-dimensional side view; (b) three-dimensional view.
184 C. Xu, Y. Mao / Applied Acoustics 104 (2016) 182–192

Fig. 2. Photographs of metal foam samples: (a) all samples; (b) sample O2; (c) sample S2.

Table 1
Characteristic parameters of metal foam samples.

No. Type of cell Material PPI Porosity (%) Pore size (mm) Pore opening (mm)
R Reference Non-porous – – – –
C1 Close Aluminum 4–8 85 2.0–5.0 –
S1 Semi-open Aluminum 2–4 70 7.0–10.0 3.0–5.0
S2 Semi-open Aluminum 4–6 70 4.0–6.0 0.8–1.5
O1 Open Nickel 40 90 0.64 –
O2 Open Nickel 40 96 0.64 –
O3 Open Nickel 70 90 0.36 –
O4 Open Nickel 70 96 0.36 –
O5 Open Nickel 80 90 0.32 –
O6 Open Nickel 80 96 0.32 –

measure and calculate the flow resistance of OCMF because the
experiment is carried out for the fan operating at a wide range of
volume flow rate.
In the present study, samples O1–O6 with three levels of PPI
and two levels of porosity are employed in order to investigate
the effects of above two parameters on the aerodynamic perfor-
mance and noise level of the centrifugal fan.
Moreover, samples S1 and S2 are SCMFs with different pore
sizes and pore openings. The structural feature of the SCMF is dif-
ferent from that of both the OCMF and CCMF. The pore in the SCMF
also connects with the adjacent pores and the ambient gas, and the
above feature is similar to the OCMF. However, the connection is
realized by some micro-channels whose diameter (i.e., pore open-
ing) is much smaller than the pore size, as shown in Fig. 2. Because
of the above geometrical feature, the SCMF possibly has a new
noise reduction mechanism, i.e., Helmholtz resonation [14]. How-
ever, on the opposite side, the SCMF possibly brings some disad-
vantages over the OCMF because the abrupt-expansion-channel
in SCMF could cause the flow separation and additional pressure
fluctuation (i.e., dipole source) on the rigid frame of the SCMF.
The characteristic parameters of the metal foam samples, i.e.,
pore size, PPI, porosity and pore opening (only for SCMF), are listed
in Table 1. Additionally, a conventional non-porous volute tongue
(represented by symbol R) is selected as the reference in order to
analyze the effect of the metal foam samples with different struc-
tural parameters on the aerodynamic performance and noise level
of the centrifugal fan.
It should be noted that the operating condition of the metal
foam in the present study is different from the above-mentioned
studies because the periodic wake flow from the impeller outlet
impinges on the metal foam. Owing to the above flow feature,
the first aim of the present experimental research is to validate
 C. Xu, Y. Mao / Applied Acoustics 104 (2016) 182–192 185

Fig. 3. Schematic of the experimental setup.

Fig. 4. TPR of centrifugal fan: (a) samples S1, S2 and C1; (b) samples O1–O6. Fig. 5. Efficiency of centrifugal fan: (a) samples S1, S2 and C1; (b) samples O1–O6.

and noise level are studied based on the experimental data. The
the application of the metal foam for controlling the centrifugal fan noise reduction level for different pore sizes and porosities is com-
noise. Moreover, the effects of pore types of the metal foam and the pared to clarify the optimal parameters for the engineering
related structural parameters on the aerodynamic performance application.
186 C. Xu, Y. Mao / Applied Acoustics 104 (2016) 182–192
2.3. Aerodynamic performance and acoustic measurements
The measurements of the aerodynamics performance and noise
of the centrifugal fan were carried out in a hemi-anechoic chamber
at Xi’an Jiaotong University. A standard test facility for the aerody-
namic performance and noise level of the centrifugal fan was made
in the hemi-anechoic chamber according to China Standards GB/T
2888–1991: Methods of noise measurement for fans, blowers,
compressors and roots blowers, and GB/T 1236–2000: Industrial
fans performance testing using standardized airways. Fig. 3 shows
schematic of the experimental setup. The total pressure rise (TPR),
efficiency and sound pressure level (SPL) were measured for the
fan operating at different volume flow rates (VFRs). Detailed
descriptions on the experimental instruments and uncertainty
were given in Refs. [8,24]. Before the experimental measurement,
the background noise in the hemi-anechoic chamber was mea-
sured. The overall SPL of the background noise was typically about
24 ± 2 dB [8], which was much lower than that of the centrifugal
fan.
3. Experimental result and discussion
3.1. Comparison among CCMF, SCMF and OCMF
For the centrifugal fan equipped with the volute tongue made
by different types of metal foam, the curves of the TPR and effi-
Fig. 6. Overall A-weighted SPL of centrifugal fan: (a) samples S1, S2 and C1; (b)
samples O1–O6.
ciency versus the VFR are plotted in Figs. 4 and 5, respectively.
The experimental result indicates that the CCMF has little effect
on the aerodynamic performance of the centrifugal fan whereas
the OCMF and SCMF reduce both the TPR and efficiency. The above
phenomenon can be explained from the structural feature of the
metal foam.
Since the surface of the CCMF (sample C1) and the conventional
volute tongue (sample R) is impermeable, the flow pattern of the
impeller outlet impinging on the sample C1 is similar to that on
the sample R, implying that the aerodynamic performance for
the sample C1 is close to that for the sample R. On the other hand,
the surface of the OCMF (samples O1–O6) and the SCMF (samples
S1, S2) is permeable, and flow through the porous zone negatively
affects the TPR and efficiency of the centrifugal fan owing to the
flow loss and other possible reason causing modification of the
flow field.
Fig. 6 displays the curves of the overall A-weighted sound pres-
sure level (OASPL) versus the VFR, where the bandwidth of the
OASPL calculation is from 100 Hz to 20 kHz. As plotted in Fig. 6
(a), the CCMF (sample C1) nearly has no effect to reduce the noise
level of the centrifugal fan. Since the present experimental data
confirms that the CCMF is not a good acoustic absorber, detailed
study on the CCMF will not be carried out in the following analysis.
Fig. 7. A-weighted SPL spectra of centrifugal fan at the BEP for samples S1 and S2:
(a) frequency range 100–20,000 Hz; (b) frequency range 100–5000 Hz.
 C. Xu, Y. Mao / Applied Acoustics 104 (2016) 182–192
Fig. 8. A-weighted SPL spectra of centrifugal fan at the BEP for samples O1–O6:
(a) frequency range 100–20,000 Hz; (b) frequency range 100–5000 Hz.
Fig. 9. A-weighted SPL spectra for samples O2 and S2.
Concerning on the SCMF, the OASPL of the centrifugal fan can be
reduced about 1–5 dB for the whole flow range shown in Fig. 6(a).
As illustrated in Figs. 4(a) and 5(a), the TPR and efficiency of the
187
Fig. 10. Effect of PPI on the TPR: (a) e = 0.90; (b) e = 0.96.
centrifugal fan equipped with the sample S2 is lower than that
equipped with the sample S1. However, the sample S2 achieves
more levels of noise reduction than the sample S1 does, and the
phenomenon is explained in the following analysis.
Fig. 6(b) displays the curves of the OASPL versus the VFR for the
OCMF (samples O1–O6). All the samples can significantly reduce
the SPL of the centrifugal fan. Based on the preliminary experimen-
tal data, it is suggested that both SCMF and OCMF are effective in
reducing the noise level. Compared Fig. 6(a) with (b), it can be
found that the fan equipped with the OCMF achieves more levels
of noise reduction than the fan equipped with the SCMF. Moreover,
the results also indicate that the structural parameters, e.g., PPI and
porosity, have effect on the noise reduction, and the related para-
metric study will be carried out in the next subsection.
In order to analyze the noise reduction mechanism of the SCMF
and OCMF, Figs. 7 and 8 display the A-weighted SPL spectra for the
fan operating at the best efficiency point (BEP). For the fan
equipped with the conventional non-porous volute tongue (sample
R), the SPL spectrum shows that there are two obvious peaks at the
blade passing frequency (BPF) and its first harmonic. The previous
studies [1,3,9] have confirmed that the tonal noise of centrifugal
fan is caused by the periodic interaction between the impeller out-
let flow and the volute tongue, and the associated intense pressure
fluctuation on the volute tongue is the primary dipole source radi-
ating tonal noise.
188 C. Xu, Y. Mao / Applied Acoustics 104 (2016) 182–192
Fig. 11. Effect of porosity on the TPR: (a) PPI = 40; (b) PPI = 70; (c) PPI = 80.
Fig. 7 also displays that the high-peak value at the BPF and its
first harmonic can be obviously suppressed by employing the
SCMF (samples S1 and S2). As illustrated in Fig. 6(a), the sample
S2 achieves more reduction in OASPL than the sample S1 does,
and Fig. 7 gives a clear explanation of the above phenomenon,
i.e., the SPL of the tonal noise for the sample S2 being lower than
Fig. 12. Effect of PPI on the efficiency: (a) e = 0.90; (b) e = 0.96.
that for the sample S1. Besides reduction of the tonal noise, the
sample S2 also reduces the broadband noise for the frequency less
than 5000 Hz, but the sample S1 nearly has no effect on the broad-
band noise, as shown in Fig. 7(a) and (b).
Based on the SPL spectra and above analysis, it can be deduced
that the primary mechanism of noise reduction for the SCMF is to
suppress the periodic pressure fluctuation (i.e., strength of dipole
source) on the volute tongue owing to the permeable feature of
the metal foam. The sample S2 can also reduce a few levels of
the broadband noise, and the above phenomenon is probably
caused by acoustic absorption through the viscous and thermal
dissipation because the pore opening of the sample S2 is less than
1 mm.
Fig. 8 illustrates that noise reduction for the OCMF is achieved
mainly by reducing the tonal component, moreover, the broadband
noise at the frequency less than 4000 Hz is also reduced. The above
result indicates that the OCMF controls the fan noise by not only
suppressing the source strength but also absorbing the acoustic
energy.
Fig. 9 compares the A-weighted SPL spectrum of the sample O2
with that of the sample S2. The result indicates that the sample O2
is more effective than the sample S2 in reducing the fan noise
because the peak values at the BPF and its first harmonic nearly
disappear for the sample O2. Owing to the above result, the OCMF
is recommended for application in fan noise control and the
 C. Xu, Y. Mao / Applied Acoustics 104 (2016) 182–192
Fig. 13. Effect of porosity on the efficiency: (a) PPI = 40; (b) PPI = 70; (c) PPI = 80.
parametric study related to the OCMF is carried out in the follow-
ing subsection.
3.2. Parametric study of OCMF
As shown in Table 1, PPI and porosity are two important
geometrical parameters characterizing the OCMF. Figs. 10 and 11
189
Fig. 14. Effect of PPI on the OASPL: (a) e = 0.90; (b) e = 0.96.
illustrate the effect of the above two parameters on the TPR of
the centrifugal fan. The experimental results indicate that it has
the tendency to reduce the TPR by either decreasing the PPI or
increasing the porosity. The same conclusion is also valid for the
efficiency of the centrifugal fan, as shown in Figs. 12 and 13. How-
ever, it is worth mentioning that the effect of the above-mentioned
parameters on the aerodynamic performance of the centrifugal fan
is very limited.
On the other hand, Figs. 14 and 15 display the effects of the PPI
and porosity on the OASPL of the centrifugal fan. The result indi-
cates that it is beneficial to reduce the fan noise level by decreasing
the PPI, while the porosity only has a little effect on the fan noise
level. Moreover, the effects of the PPI and porosity on the SPL
spectrum of the centrifugal fan are shown in Figs. 16 and 17.
Table 2 compares the reduction of the tonal, broadband
components and the OASPL for the samples O1–O6. The reduction
level of the broadband component is calculated by removing the
tonal components, which is the same method used by Sutliff
et al. [17,18].
It is observed that the tonal components at the BPF and its har-
monic are sensitive to not only the PPI but also the porosity.
Decreasing the PPI and increasing the porosity are beneficial to
reduce the tonal components. The above feature can be understood
from the theory of permeation fluid mechanism. Although the flow
resistance is not measured in the present study, the flow resistance
190 C. Xu, Y. Mao / Applied Acoustics 104 (2016) 182–192
Fig. 15. Effect of porosity on the OASPL: (a) PPI = 40; (b) PPI = 70; (c) PPI = 80.
is inversely proportional to the pore size and porosity according to
the Ergun’s equation [25]. The larger the pore size and porosity are,
the more easily the fluid flows through the porous region. Because
of the above feature, increasing the pore sized and porosity has a
positive efficacy to suppressing the pressure fluctuation on the
pressure-relief boundary condition generated by the OCMF. The
Fig. 16. Effect of PPI on the A-Weighted SPL spectrum: (a) e = 0.90; (b) e = 0.96.
broadband noise is also reduced by employing the samples O1–
O6, however, the variation in PPI and porosity as investigated has
a small effect on the broadband noise reduction.
Table 2 shows that the maximum reduction of the tonal compo-
nent at the BPF is 18.2 dB, but the maximum reduction of the
broadband component and the overall noise is 5.5 dB and 6.7 dB,
respectively. Moreover, the SPL spectrum for the sample O2 indi-
cates that the tonal component nearly disappears. The above
results imply that the tonal noise is well suppressed, and the pri-
mary aim of the further investigation is to reduce the broadband
noise.
It is interesting to compare the present experimental results
with the experimental results of Sutliff for the turbofan noise
[17,18], because they show a great difference in reduction of the
tonal and broadband noise. In Refs. [17,18], the OCMF achieves
up to 4–5 dB of noise reduction by mainly attenuating the broad-
band noise with a limited contribution from reducing the tonal
noise. It should be noted that in Refs. [17,18] the OCMF is installed
over the rotor, where there is no strong and periodic flow interac-
tion on the OCMF, thus absorbing the acoustic energy is the pri-
mary mechanism of noise control. However, in the present study
for the centrifugal fan, the OCMF is installed on the volute tongue,
i.e., the predominant source region generating tonal noise. The per-
meable feature of the OCMF suppresses the strong pressure fluctu-
ation generated by the periodic interaction between the impeller
 C. Xu, Y. Mao / Applied Acoustics 104 (2016) 182–192 191

and the volute tongue. Owing to the above installation feature, the
present OCMF not only suppresses the tonal noise but also absorbs
the broadband noise.
The following is a brief discussion on the effect of noise radiated
from other sources, such as the motor, on the experimental results.
It should be noted that not only the fan but also the motor radiates
noise during the experimental test. Since there is no specific treat-
ment to eliminate or insulate the motor noise, the experimental
data of the SPL is actually the overall contribution from the fan
noise and the motor noise. However, the experimental results indi-
cate that the noise level can be greatly reduced by installing the
metal foam on the volute tongue, implying that the motor noise
has little contribution to the overall noise level.

4. Conclusions

This paper investigates experimentally the metal foam on

reducing the noise level of a forward-curved centrifugal fan. It
can be drawn the following conclusions from the experimental
data.

(1) The CCMF has little effect on the aerodyanamic performance

and the noise level, because the impermeable surface of the
CCMF is very similar to the conventional non-porous volute
tongue. Both the SCMF and OCMF negatively affect the TPR
and efficiency of the centrifugal fan, however, they also
reduce the fan noise level at the whole flow range. Based
on the experimental data, the OCMF is usually more effective
than the SCMF in reducing the fan noise level.
(2) For the fan equipped with the OCMF, not only the tonal noise
is significantly reduced but also the broadband noise is sup-
pressed in a limited range. It can be deduced that the pri-
mary noise reduction mechanism of the OCMF used in the
present centrifugal fan is to suppress the pressure fluctua-
tion on the surface of the volute tongue owing to the perme-
able boundary condition. The reduction of the broadband
noise is probably contributed from the acoustic-absorption
performance of the OCMF since the viscous and thermal dis-
sipation is effective for the pore size smaller than 1 mm. It
should be noted that the above noise mechanism is greatly
different from that in Refs. [17,18] owing to the difference
of installation position of the OCMF.
(3) The parametric study on the OCMF reveals that both the
aerodynamic performance and the noise level are related
to the PPI and porosity. The experimental results indicate
that decreasing the PPI and increasing the porosity have a
negative effect on the TPR and efficiency of the centrifugal
fan but they are also beneficial to reduce the tonal noise. It
is worth mentioning that the broadband noise is also
reduced for all the samples O1–O6, but the variation of the
PPI and the porosity nearly has little effect on the reduction
of the broadband noise.

Fig. 17. Effect of porosity on the A-Weighted SPL spectrum: (a) PPI = 40; Since the tonal noise component nearly disappears for the fan
(b) PPI = 70; (c) PPI = 80. equipped with the OCMF (e.g. sample O2), the primary aim of

Table 2
Reduction of noise components and OASPL by employing OCMF (Unit: dB).

Noise component PPI = 40 PPI = 70 PPI = 80

O1 (e = 0.90) O2 (e = 0.96) O3 (e = 0.90) O4 (e = 0.96) O5 (e = 0.90) O6 (e = 0.96)
BPF 18.1 18.2 9.6 13.3 6.2 9.3
2  BPF 10.3 11.9 11.5 12.0 12.1 8.5
Broadband component 5.3 5.5 5.0 5.4 4.6 4.4
OASPL 6.6 6.7 5.8 6.0 6.0 6.0
192 C. Xu, Y. Mao / Applied Acoustics 104 (2016) 182–192
the following research is to reduce the broadband noise. Moreover,
an in-depth research on the noise control mechanism of the metal
foam can be carried out by measuring and simulating the flow and
acoustic fields for the fan equipped with the metal foam. After that,
an optimal design can be conducted to achieve more reduction in
noise level and less negative effect on the aerodynamic
performance.
Acknowledgment
The research has been supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (No. 51476123 and No. 51206127)
and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
(xjj2015105).
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