Aerodynamic performance of a fan with porous-wavy leading edge

This paper presents numerical studies on the aerodynamic performance of a fan with porous-wavy leading edge. Different bionic treatments are modeled based on wavy leading-edge configuration and porous medium. The flow field is solved using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes method. The numerical results show that the bionic configuration using a porous medium significantly reduces both the efficiency and total pressure ratio of the fan. Among these, the maximum reduction in the total pressure ratio is 0.0115, and the maximum reduction in the efficiency is 7.16%. The application of a porous medium leads to decreased blade loading, aggravated flow separation, and increased wake intensity and width, significantly impairing the fan's aerodynamic performance. An optimized design is implemented for the porous-wavy leading edge, and the effects of two parameters of the porous medium, porosity and mean particle diameter, on the aerodynamic performance of the fan are analyzed. The results show that the optimized porous-wavy leading edge reduces the pressure ratio by 0.0070 and decreases the efficiency by 3.12%. Furthermore, it is found that higher porosity and larger mean particle diameter improve efficiency. And the influence of porosity and mean particle diameter on the efficiency is correlated with the coverage ratio of the porous medium on the blades.