Simplified Numerical Model of an Axial Impeller

A.-M. Georgescu[1], S.-C. Georgescu[2]
[1]Hydraulics and Environmental Protection Department, Technical University of Civil Engineering, Bucharest, Romania
[2]Hydraulics Department, University “Politehnica”, Bucharest, Romania
Published in 2012

We propose a simplified numerical method to model the flow field downstream of an axial impeller. The method can be used for any axial hydraulic machinery for which, one is less interested by the flow between the blades, than by the flow field downstream of the machinery. The method is applied to an axial fan for which the pressure - flow rate curve is available. Numerical results are obtained using COMSOL Multiphysics\' 3D turbulent incompressible flow built on a Reynolds average formulation of Navier-Stokes equations, with k-? closure. Our computed results are in good agreement with measured or computed values of the flow downstream of such a fan. The method has proven to save a lot of computational time.