Results of an optimizing procedure that led to better understanding of the sophisticated flow pattern and better aerodynamic characteristics of a modified inlet section of an engine cooling fan for a combat vehicle are presented in this paper. The highly turbulent air flow of the original cooling system configuration was the result of inadequate design and position of the cooling fan in the vehicle and especially its inlet configuration. Experimental analysis of the rotor flow velocity profiles was performed with a five-hole Pitot-Prandtl probe at the rotor exit section and by the computer-aided visualization of the turbulent flow within the baseline and new ‘flow improving’ coaxial leading vanes at the rotor inlet. The kinematic performance of the rotor inlet section was thus changed and was quantified by visualization and analysis of the measuring thread's agility in the air flow. Time-based averaging of the consecutive frames within a photograph shot of particular measuring threads determined the direction of the incoming flow, whereas the appropriate standard deviation of the thread's agility was estimated as the proportional variable that determined the intensity of turbulence in the incoming flow. This relatively simple method was subsequently tested and compared with the results of two-dimensional laser Doppler anemometry velocity measurements. It was also proved to be a suitable technique for flow analyses in complex and less accessible flow channels.
Analysis of the air flow in the radial engine cooling fan of a combat vehicle
2001-05-01
9 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Analysis of the air flow in the radial engine cooling fan of a combat vehicle
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