Identification of radiated modes by a small-scale ducted fan

Various industrial applications involve fluid flow in ducted fans. Turbojet engines or air condition systems are just a few examples. The long-term objective is to reduce the associated noise pollution generated by rotor-stator interaction within a small-scale duct. Modal detection strategies help to understand the characteristics of sound radiation of such systems involving fluid flow. In this work, the authors analyze the modal amplitudes generated by a rotor-stator interaction in the presence of a background mean flow. The inverse approach detecting the modal amplitudes is applied using experimentally as well as numerically determined sound pressure values outside the circular duct. The results are discussed and compared against mode amplitudes estimated by an in-duct microphone array whose data is measured simultaneously with that of the far-field one. Some physical interpretations regarding varying amplitudes are discussed. The approach is finally used to assess the impact of homogeneous and heterogeneous stator vanes on the rotor-stator generated noise.