The Effect of Blade Thickness and

Angle of Attack on Broadband

Fan Noise
Stewart Glegg
Florida Atlantic University
and
William Devenport
Virginia Tech

Work Supported by ONR,

Prog. Manager: Dr. Ron Joslin

Authors would like to thank Ed Envia for

providing additional slides 1
 Sources of Broadband Fan Noise

Rotor/Stator
Rotor Alone
Interaction

• Trailing Edge Noise

• Blade Tip Gap Noise • Inflow Noise
• Duct Wall BL Inflow Noise Rotor Turbulence
Rotor Tip Vortices
Duct Wall BL
• Self Noise
2
AIAA Papers No: 93-4402, 98-2316
Comparison of Predicted R/S Interaction
Noise and Measurements
for the SDT Fan Rig (Envia et al, 2008)

3
Envia et al AIAA paper no 2008-2991
Prediction of R/S Interaction Noise with
Rotor Alone Noise Added
for the SDT Fan Rig (Envia et al, 2008)

4
Envia et al AIAA paper no 2008-2991
 Outline of Talk
• Rotor Alone Noise
• Predicting Trailing Edge Noise Sources
• Blade Surface Pressure Spectra and AoA
• Recent Developments
• Rotor Stator Interaction Noise
• Review of Existing Studies
• Physics of Leading Edge Noise AoA and Thickness
Effects
• Wind Tunnel Measurements Of Leading Edge Noise
• Conclusions
5
Rotor Alone Noise

6
 Sources of Rotor Alone Noise
• Tip Flows – may dominate for low speed fans
with large tip gaps and low AR

• Wall BL Inflow Noise -typically BL is very

thin and source is not important

• Trailing Edge Noise -assumed to dominate for

moderate AR blades with small tip gaps

AIAA Paper No: 98-2316 7

Predicting TE Noise

8
 Trailing Edge Noise
Single Blade
Sound Waves
BL Turbulence

Sharp Trailing Edge

• Scattering of BL pressure fluctuations causes
propagating acoustic waves
•Kutta condition is assumed at the trailing edge

(Amiet (1977), Brooks(1984), Howe (1998) 9

 Trailing Edge Noise
Blade Row
Sound Waves

BL Turbulence

In a blade row there is acoustic scattering from

multiple blades
AIAA Jnl Vol 36(9) 1998
10
 TE Noise Prediction
• Blade is broken down into sections
• Surface pressure wavenumber spectrum
defined at each blade section
• Coupled Duct/ 3D TE Scattering Response
defined for each blade section
• Spanwise wavenumber varies with radius
• Assumes small spanwise correlation
lengthscale

Blade Surface Blade Row Duct Mode

Pressure Scattering Amplitudes

AIAA Jnl Vol 36(9) 1998 11

Properties of the Surface Pressure
Assume that the boundary layer on a single blade
has the same surface pressure spectrum as a blade
in a cascade if U and δ* are the same

AIAA Jnl Vol 36(9) 1998 12

 Deducing the Surface Pressure
Spectrum
for a given U and δ*

=
Single
*
Blade Surface TE Far Field
Blade Pressure Scattering Sound

=
Blade
*
Blade Surface Blade Row Duct Mode
Row Pressure Scattering Amplitudes

AIAA Jnl Vol 36(9) 1998 13

Source Spectra at Different Radii

70

Source Power Spectrum dB re 20e-6Pa/sqrt(Hz)

60
blade radius

50

40

30

20
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
frequency kHz

Constant AoA of 7 deg

AIAA Jnl Vol 36(9) 1998 14

Source Spectra at Different Radii

70

Source Power Spectrum dB re 20e-6Pa/sqrt(Hz)

60
blade radius

50

40

30

20
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
frequency kHz

AoA is 8 deg at hub and 4 deg at tip

AIAA Jnl Vol 36(9) 1998 15

Effect of Increasing AoA on Sound
Power Output
90
9 Increasing AoA

Sound Power Spectrum dB re 1e-12W/Hz

85

80 8
75
7
70 6
65 5

60

55

50
0 5 10 15 20
frequency kHz

AoA constant from hub to tip

AIAA Jnl Vol 36(9) 1998 16

 Effect of AoA on
Total Sound Power
130

125

Sound Power Output

120

115

110

105

100
-2 -1 0 1 2
angle of attack re case A and B

Sound power increases as ~2.4 dB per degree

AIAA Jnl Vol 36(9) 1998 17

 Recent Developments

In collaboration with Bruce Morin,

Oliver Attasi and Ramon Reba
AIAA paper no 2008-2993

18
 Using RANS
to get surface pressure spectrum
Both models give tke
Surface pressure
spectrum

Local Linearized
Unsteady Flow
RANS

Mean Flow
Dissipation Scale
AIAA paper no 2008-2993 19
 SDT Test Comparison
Rotor Alone Noise
SDT Test Case Nominal VAN
115
Dnstrm Data Brooks Input
Dnstrm Pred RMG
Dnstrm Pred Brooks
110

105
PWL (dB)

100

RANS Input
Data
95

90
2 3 4
10 10 10
F (Hz)

The downstream sound power radiated from the fan blade versus frequency.
The blue curve corresponds to the measured data, the green curve is the
prediction based on the current model and the red curve is the prediction using
the Brooks et al (1989) self noise database. 20
AIAA paper no 2008-2993
Rotor Stator Interaction Noise

21
 Rotor/Stator Interaction Noise
• Hanson and Horan (AIAA 98-
2319) b
• Glegg and Walker (AIAA 99-
1888)
• Evers and Peake (JFM v.43,
2002)
u.n
• Nallasamy and Envia (JSV v. U
283, 2005)
s
• Cheong et al (JASA 119, 2006)
• Attasi and Vinogradov (AIAA
2007-3691)

22
 Rotor/Stator Interaction Noise
Effect of AoA
Evers and Peake b
(JFM v.43, 2002)

Gave a high frequency analysis of loaded

u.n
cascade,
U
Showed effects of AoA for tonal noise from
s
blade wakes was large ~10dB
However only a small effect ~2dB was
found on broadband noise for a
homogeneous turbulent inflow
23
 Rotor/Stator Interaction Noise
Fully Loaded Rotor
Attasi and Vinogradov (AIAA 2007-3691)

• Gave a complete analysis of loaded set of stator vanes in a

circular duct
• Showed up to 3-4dB of real blade effects on broadband noise
• Predictions were similar to flat plate results at high
frequencies
• Verified predictions using experimental data

Concluded that real blade effects were small, but

what is the physics?? 24
Leading Edge Noise

25
Phase of a Vortical Gust

26
AIAA paper no 2006-2424
Streamwise Component of
Goldstein’s Gust

27
AIAA paper no 2006-2424
 Time Domain Methods
• Calculate the unsteady loading from a blade vortex
interaction and hence the noise

• Arbitrary gust is modeled by multiple vortices

Point vortex

Works well for problems which can be reduced to 2D

Glegg and Devenport JSV 2008

28
Unsteady Loading from a BVI
Unsteady Lift
2
10 deg
1 5 deg

unsteady lift
0
0 deg
-1

-2
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
Ut/a
Unsteady Drag
0.5

0 deg 5 deg
unsteady drag

10 deg

-0.5
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
Ut/a
Time
29
Glegg and Devenport JSV 2008
Response to Step Upwash Gust

F(t)

Step Upwash Gust

Glegg and Devenport JSV 2008

30
 Unsteady Loading from a Step Gust
for 0,5,10 deg AoA
Net Unsteady Loading

5
Unsteady Loading
unsteady lift

-5
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10
Ut/a Time

5 Glegg and Devenport JSV 2008

31
drag
 Unsteady Loading from a Step Gust
for thickness to chord ratios
0.001,0.06,0.15
Net Unsteady Loading

5
Unsteady Loading
unsteady lift

-5
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10
Ut/a Time

Glegg and Devenport JSV 2008

5 32
ag
 Conformal Mapping
(a) Streamlines at an AoA α deg (b) Streamlines at zero AoA

(a) Flow at an angle of attack (b) Flow at zero a

For 2D incompressible flow the
airfoil can be mapped onto a
circle 3
3

Unsteady loading depends

2
2
on the distance of the
vortex from the
1
singular
1
point
0 0
Location of the singular point
-1 Overlay of
depends on(b) onto thickness
airfoil
-1 (a) rotated
clockwise by 2α deg
-2 -2

-3 -3
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 -3 -2
33-1 0
Glegg and Devenport JSV 2008
3
 Conformal Mapping
(a) Streamlines AoAofαattack(b)
(a) Flow atatananangle deg (b) Streamlines
Flow at zero
at zero angle AoA
of attack
3
3

2
2

1 1

0 0

-1 -1

-2 -2

-3 -3
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

After rotation streamlines are 2

overlaid 1

Overlay of (b) onto (a) rotated

Increased levels from vortices -1

clockwise by 2α deg
in upper plane cancels reduced -2

level from vortices in lower

-3
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

plane
34
Glegg and Devenport JSV 2008
Experimental Verification

Experiments carried out at Virginia

Tech in collaboration with William
Devenport and Joshua Staubs

35
 VT Stability Wind Tunnel
AIAA-2008-2911
Air exchange 0.5MW Drive and Fan
tower

Removeable
Test section

Control room
• 6'x6'x24' test section
• 15' dia., 600 h.p. fan
produces flow speeds to
Anechoic system
80m/s (Re > 5000000 installed in control 36
per meter) room area
 AIAA paper no 2008-3018

From Inside

8
7
Loss (dB)

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000
37
Frequency (Hz)
 AIAA paper no 2008-3018

Turbulence Grid
• 5cm bars on 30cm centers
• 69.4% open area ratio
• In contraction (area 32% larger
than test section)
• 19.5 mesh sizes ahead of airfoils
0
Longitudinal spectrum functions, large grid, 30m/s lf=1.28
10
Euu
Euu (single wire)
-1
10 von Karman
modified von Karman
Transverse corrrelation functions, large grid, 30m/s
1
-2
Ruu(y) 10
Rw w (y)
0.8 Ruu(z)
Rvv (z) -3

0.6
von Karman
10
u'/U = 3.8%
-4
v'/U = 3.9%
10
0.4
w'/U = 4.0%
0.2 -5
10 L = 0.082m
0
-6
10
1038
-1 0 1 2 3
10 10 10 10
-0.2
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 k/k e
Separation (inches)
 Measurement
locations and
conditions
1.8m
c αo
Kevlar acoustic window
NACA 0012 0.2m -12,-8,-4,0,4,8,12

NACA 0015 0.6m 0,2,4,6,8,10,12

1.83
NACA 0012 0.9m 0,2,4,6,8,10,12 α

DU96 0.9m 0,2,4,6,8,10

Foam transition
S831 0.9m 0,2,4,6,8,10

• All measurements at 30m/s (additional

at 40m/s not shown)

AIAA paper no 2008-3018 39

WJD1

0.2-m NACA 0012 69

Effects of Angle of Attack 68

67

66
90

SPL1/3 (dB)
65

64
80
63

70 62

SPL1/3 (dB)
61

L 60 60
o 59
0 300 400 500 600
50 o
4
o
40 8
o
12
30

20
2 3
10 Frequency (Hz) 10

2.1 Reduced Frequency ωr 21

40
AIAA paper no 2008-3018
Diapositiva 40

WJD1 Sync animation

change Gershfeld to Howe
William Devenport; 06/05/2008
 0.2-m NACA 0012
AIAA paper no 2008-3018

50 55
o
0
o
4
o
8
40 45 o
12
Spp (dB)

SPL (dB)
αeff αeff
0o 0o
30 35
1.8o 12o
3.6o
5.4o
20 25
2.3 7.8 23 4 6 8 10 20 30
Reduced Frequency
Reduced Frequency
Moreau et al. (2005)
NACA 0012 h/c=1.3 (jet) NACA 0012, 0.2-m h/c=9
L=6.6%c u'/U=5% U=40m/s L=40%c u'/U=3.9% U=30m/s 41
 Noise Calculations
• Glegg, Devenport and Staubs (2008) Theory.
Von Karman

2
Lˆ (ω, k2 )
∞
πω UR3
2
S pp (ω ) = 2 2 ∫
r c0 −∞
Ω33 ( −ω / U , k2 ,0)
2 R3
dk2

Sound from a flat plate

80
75 Panel Method
k2 70
65

SPL1/3 (dB)
60
Amiet
55
50
Analytical Solution

ω
45
40
Drift coordinates Wavenumber space 35
30
1 10 100
42
Reduced Frequency ωr
WJD2

0.2-m NACA 0012

Effects of Angle of Attack with predictions

90

80

Flat plate
70

SPL1/3 (dB)
L 60
o
0
50 o
4
o
40 8
o
12
30

20
2 3
10 Frequency (Hz) 10

2.1 Reduced Frequency ωr 21

43
AIAA paper no 2008-3018
Diapositiva 43

WJD2 Sync animation

change Gershfeld to Howe
William Devenport; 06/05/2008
 0.6-m NACA 0015
Effects of Angle of Attack

o
0
90 o
2
o
80 4
0.203-m 0012, 12o o
6
70 o
8

SPL1/3 (dB)
o
L 10
60 o
12
0.203-m 0012, 0o
50

40

30

20
2 3
10 Frequency (Hz) 10
6.4 Reduced Frequency ωr 64

NACA 0015, 0.6-m h/c=3

L=13%c u'/U=3.9% U=30m/s 44
AIAA paper no 2008-3018
 0.6-m NACA 0015
Effects of Angle of Attack with predictions

o
0
90 o
2
o
80 4
Flat Plate o
6
70 o
8
10 dB

SPL1/3 (dB)
o
L 10
60 o
12
50

40

30

20
2 3
10 Frequency (Hz) 10
6.4 Reduced Frequency ωr 64

45
AIAA paper no 2008-3018
 Conclusions
• Rotor alone noise and rotor stator interaction noise
are equally important
• Trailing edge noise can be predicted from
calculations of the blade surface pressure spectrum
• Blade stall dramatically increases trailing edge noise
• Angle of attack effects on blades in isotropic
turbulence are small (but not necessarily for
anisotropic turbulence and asymmetric blades)
• Blade thickness can significantly reduce high
frequency noise (but the details of the blade shape are
important)

46