Fan Casing Noise Radiation

This paper presents a method for assessing the extent of casing noise radiation of a centrifugal fan relative to the aeroacoustic sources associated with the inlet box of the fan. Central to the method is a boundary element program which is used to compute the acoustic pressures on the surfaces of the fan casing in terms of its surface vibration which in this case was measured experimentally. Data from an earlier experiment was used as the starting point for this study. Available data included sound pressure measurements near and away from the inlet box of the fan and vibration measurements over the casing of the fan. Noise from the outlet duct of the fan was purposely highly attenuated. Computations of sound pressure, intensity, and power indicated that, at the blade passing frequency (300 Hz), the aerodynamic sources generated near the entrance plane of the inlet box of the fan dominate the noise spectrum in the field. On the other hand, at the first subharmonic frequency of the blade tone (150 Hz), the sound power generated from the inlet box and fan casing are within 3 dB of each other. Thus, for effective noise control at this frequency, it would be necessary to include both noise sources in the overall treatment.