A low pressure axial fan for benchmarking prediction methods for aerodynamic performance and sound

Great efforts into implementing numerical methods for performance and sound prediction can be observed in the fan and blower industry. Trust in results from simulation, however, often relies on experimental validation. The purpose of this paper is to describe the low pressure rotor-only fan "USI7" which has been used as a generic test fan in several projects at the University of Siegen and elsewhere for several years. We present our own experimental results such as performance and sound characteristics, turbulent inflow statistics and sound spectra as well as the test rigs employed to obtain the data. The idea behind is to foster bench-marking of present and new steady-state and unsteady aerodynamic and aero-acoustic prediction methods within the community. Thus, to any individual we will provide full geometry of the fan as well as all experimental data. (C) 2015 Institute of Noise Control Engineering.