Experimental investigation of unsteady fan flow interaction with downstream struts

In the present study of the unsteady pressure field produced on fan rotor blades by interaction with downstream struts, a single stage, low speed axial-flow fan was instrumented with blade-mounted high frequency pressure transducers. In addition, stationary pressure problems were used to map out the flowfield. Fluctuating pressure measurements are presented for blade midspan and 85-percent span on both the suction and pressure surfaces of the rotor blades at several positions of the downstream struts, and for two different flow coefficients. The strut is found to produce an effect on the unsteady pressure field on the rotor blades; this effect exceeds that due to the stator at design rotor-stator-strut spacing, but it rapidly declines as the struts are moved downstream.