Centrifugal Blower (Mesh Motion) CFD Simulation, ANSYS Fluent

Description

Description

This project simulates a Centrifugal Blower Considering Mesh Motion in ANSYS Fluent software. A centrifugal blower, also known as a centrifugal fan, is a type of industrial blower that uses the kinetic energy of a wheel to move air or gases. The wheel of a centrifugal blower is called an impeller, and it consists of a number of blades that are arranged around a central hub. The basic working principle of a centrifugal blower is as follows:

Air Inlet: Air enters the blower through the center of the impeller.

Rotation: As the impeller rotates, it imparts kinetic energy to the air.

Centrifugal Force: This kinetic energy is increased by the centrifugal force generated by the circular motion, which causes the air to move radially outwards.

Air Outlet: The air is then pushed out of the blower housing through a duct or outlet, which is typically a tangential or scroll-shaped discharge.

Centrifugal blowers are used in a wide range of applications, including :HVAC system for air conditioning, heating, and ventilating, industrial processes such as pneumatic conveying, combustion air supply, and exhaust systems, cooling systems for cooling electronic equipment or parts of machinery, and dust control in environments where dust needs to be collected or filtered out.

The 3-D geometry of the model is designed in Design Modeler software then meshed in ANSYS Meshing with 5,479,874 unstructured cells.

Methodology

In this simulation a rotating zone around the blades is considered in which the air flow rotates with 1500 [rpm] angular velocity. What we aimed to do in this simulation is to consider rotation of the blades with Mesh Motion. Mesh motion involves physically rotating or moving the mesh in the computational domain. This method is used when capturing the exact motion of the boundary and its interaction with the fluid is important. It’s typically used for unsteady simulations, like this simulation,  where the motion of the mesh is an integral part of the physical phenomena being studied. Also the turbulence of the air flow is simulated via RNG k-e model.

Results

Following the simulation process, we acquired two-dimensional representations of various parameters: pressure, velocity, and streamlines. In addition, we also gathered two-dimensional visualizations of pathlines and velocity vectors.
The findings indicate that the airflow is drawn into the central region of the blower, where it undergoes a high-pressure rotational movement near the blade areas. Subsequently, both the pressure and velocity of the airflow escalate and are channeled outward through the blower’s discharge.