Aerodynamic and aeroacoustic design of electric ducted fans

This paper describes the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic design of an electric ducted fan (EDF). A prototype EDF was designed and built with three different rotor-stator sets to operate at design flow coefficients phi(d) = [0.60, 0.75, 0.90]. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations show that changing the design flow coefficient changes the proportions of endwall and blade profile loss, with the phi(d) = 0.75 design providing the optimum balance. CFD predictions of aerodynamic performance are compared with experimental measurements and show good agreement. Data collected from full annulus Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (URANS) CFD simulations is used to predict tonal noise radiation using a numerical solution to Farassat's Formulation 1A, and compare favourably to acoustic measurements in an anechoic chamber. All three EDF iterations show similar levels of broadband noise radiation, although tonal noise radiation decreases with increasing design flow coefficient and results in more favourable Sound Quality Metrics performance. Design flow coefficient is shown to have a first-order impact on both the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic behaviour of the EDF, and it is proposed that an optimal design, encompassing both aerodynamic performance and reduced acoustic impact, can be achieved at design flow coefficients between phi(d) = 0.75 and phi(d) = 0.90.