Predicting tonal noise from a high rotational speed centrifugal fan

Prediction of noise generated by centrifugal fans is much more complex than prediction noise generated by axial fans. A complete, aerodynamic and aeroacoustic, investigation of the tonal noise of a high rotational speed centrifugal fan is proposed in this paper. The studied fan is made up of an impeller, a diffuser and a return channel. The purpose of this work is to understand the nature of noise generated within this type of machine. An aeroacoustic model based on the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings equation is used to predict dipole and monopole tonal noises in the frequency domain. Showing the importance of the monopole source in this kind of fans constitutes the main contribution in these research tasks. A numerical simulation of the fluid flow validated by experiments, enables to obtain the fluctuating forces and normal velocity on the impeller and diffuser blades needed for the aeroacoustic computation.