Power and Energy Engineering Conference 2010

Dynamic Characteristics Analysis of Blade of Fan Based

on Ansys
Junjie Zhou, Bo Liu, Dingbiao Wang, Xiaoqian li
School of Chemical Engineering Zhengzhou University Science Road NO.100 Zhengzhou 450001

Abstract: In this paper, the finite element model of blade of R40 axial-flow fan has been built, using this
model, the dynamic characteristics of blade have been analyzed with Ansys software. We can get the first 10
natural frequencies of blade under rated and resonant operating conditions, and get the harmonic response of
exciting force. The results show that R40 axial-flow fan runs stable under resonant operating conditions,
resonance does not occur; the larger rotation speed can increase the natural frequencies of blade; the blade
has the maximum response of the exciting force at 120Hz.
Key words: Blade; Finite Element; Dynamic; modal analysis; harmonic response

1 Introduction frequencies and mode shapes of blade[5], analyze and

Blade as an important component of fluid mechanical, its
structure is reasonable or not directly affects the
performance of the fan, while the advantages and
disadvantages of blade performance are mainly reflected
in the static and dynamic characteristics [1].
Blade will be affected by centrifugal force and
steady or unsteady flow force, unsteady flow force is the
main source of excitation among the all of the force. If
the blade occurred bending and torsion deformation
under the action of the exciting force, the deformation
will lead to aerodynamic of blade change. When the
interaction between air force and mechanical vibration is
reduced, the motion is stable, otherwise vibration and
unstable movement will occur. Blade Vibration will
generate dynamic stress, resulting in blade fatigue, or
even rupture[2-4]. Therefore, it is great significance to
analyze the dynamic characteristics of the fan blades.
Structural Dynamics Analysis is to study the natural
predict dynamic response of blade under the loads to
avoid resonance. In this paper, the finite element model
of blade of R40 axial-flow fan has been built, using this
model, the dynamic characteristics of blade have been
analyzed with Ansys software. We can get the first 10
natural frequencies of blade under rated and resonant
operating conditions, and get the harmonic response of
exciting force.
2 Blade finite element model and mesh
2.1 Study object
In this paper, the blade of R40 axial fan is used as
researched object. Blade is CLARK-Y airfoil, its relative
thickness is 12%.The speed of work is 1440rpm. The
parameters of blade control section shown in Table 1.
Material of blade is FRP, and Density is 2600kg /m3.
Elastic modulus is 7.2 10 4 MPa, Poisson ratio is 0.3.

Table 1. the parameters of blade control section

control section rr
parameters R
0.356 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

Chord C/m 0.1392 0.1280 0.1223 0.1103 0.0977 0.0869 0.0795 0.0724

Torsion angle 32.2 25.0 22.3 18.4 15.7 13.8 12.3 11.1

The model of blade is defined by parameters of 2.2 Finite element equation

control section, we can establish blade model by surface
connection. Therefore, in the modeling process, using the
point to a line and then to plane, to the body modeling [6].
The model of blade is shown in figure 1.
In this paper, we selected Solid 186 to discrete unit
of blade (The dispersed grid shown in Figure 2). Solid
186 is a high-end 3D solid unit which has 20-nodes, it
with quadratic displacement model can better simulate

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Power and Energy Engineering Conference 2010

the irregular grid. Unit defined by 20 nodes, each node
has three translational degrees of freedom along the xyz
directions. Solid 186 can have any spatial anisotropy,
unit support plastic, super-elastic, creep, and has the
ability to simulate large deformation and large strain.
The balance equations of blade under the centrifugal
force field are as follows [7]:
Figure1. Blade model
of grid increased[8]. As the computer resource constraints,
we can not get very fine mesh, but the need to ensure that
the result of numerical is independent to grid.
In this paper, three grid systems were used. Element
edge length is 0.01, 0.0075 and 0.006; Spacing between
two adjacent grid system level changes is large enough,
the blade first mode and relative stress along X-axis is
calculated. The results are shown in Figure.3 and Figure
4.
As can be seen from Figure.3, the result of first
mode calculated using different nodes number not
change significantly. With the increase of nodes number,
the result of first mode calculated by two adjacent grid
systems is more similar. Figure.4 shows that the result of
relative stress along X-axis has a little difference, but the
difference is very small when element edge length is
0.0075 and 0.006. Therefore, we believe that Element
edge length = 0.0075 has been to meet the requirement of
accuracy, and can be obtained the result independent to
grid.
121.40

121.35

121.30
the first mudel

121.25

121.20

121.15

121.10

121.05

121.00
Figure2. Mesh 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
NODE number

B dv N f dv
T T Figure3. First mode
e e
(1)
N pds R
T e

e e 1400000

B strain matrix stress vector 1200000

0.01
0.0075

N shape function matrix

0.006
1000000

f inertia force vector per unit volume 800000

p pressure per unit area

600000

400000

Re node concentration loading vector 200000

The finite element equation is:

0

M C K 2 M C 2 -200000

QC P F R
-0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40

X( m)

M total mass matrix C damping matrix

K stiffness matrix M C centrifugal force Figure4. Relative stress along X-axis

mass matrix

2.3 Examination of grid independence 3 Result analyses

In the differential equations discrete process, the 3.1 Static mode analysis
discrete error would be introduced. For the same discrete
scheme, discrete error is usually reduced with the dense The root of blade was bound completely. Using

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Lanczos method to calculate the first 10 natural relative stress of the leaf blade. As can be seen from
frequencies of blade, the results shown in Figure 5. figure, when the frequency of the leaf is 120.99Hz,
4000
first-order resonance will occur, the main form of
3500
first-order resonance is wave vibration, the closer to the
3000
tip of the site, the greater amplitude is, maximum
2500
dynamic stress appears in blade root; when the frequency
of the leaf is 464.59Hz, second-order resonance will
/HZ

2000

1500
occur, the main form of second-order resonance is
1000
shimmy, the tip and the central of the blade have larger
500
amplitude, dynamic stress will mainly concentrate in the
0
location of near the blade root and from 1/3.Because the
0 2 4 6 8 10 process of movement of the blade is affected by the first
two bands vibration, roots and the upper is prone to
fatigue and even appears crack or fracture. In practice,
Figure5. The first 10 natural frequencies of blade
from the collected fracture fragments of leaves, we can
see most of the fracture appear in the two places of
Figure 6 shows first two vibration mode and a above-mentioned[9], the result is proved correct.

a First-order mode shape and relative stress120.99Hz

b Second-order mode shape and relative stress (463.11Hz)

Figure.6 Mode shape and relative stress

Table2. the first 10 natural frequencies of blade in different speeds

3.2 Modal analysis of a pre-stress
In the process of rotation, blade is affected by speed
0rpm 1440rpm 1750rpm 2000rpm
centrifugal force. Load centrifugal force on blade as order
Pre-stress and calculate the first 10 natural frequencies of
1 120.99 126.33 128.8 131.09
blade in different speeds. The result is shown in Table 2.
As can be seen from Tab.2, with the speed increase, 2 463.11 467.82 470.05 472.14
the natural frequency of blade also will become larger, 3 783.85 785.51 786.3 787.05
which is due to stiffness matrix K increase. 4 1033.5 1034.7 1035.3 1035.8
n 5 1269.6 1273.9 1275.9 1277.9
The frequency of exciting force is: N 3
60 6 1963.0 1964.2 1964.7 1965.2
Where:N indicates the number of blade, n indicates the 7 2218.0 2222.6 2224.8 2226.9
speed of fan per minute. As can be seen from the formula, 8 3048.3 3050.1 3051.0 3051.8
when the working speed of the fan is 1440rpm,the 9 3157.7 3159.3 3160.1 3160.8
frequency of the exciting stress is 96Hz, this frequency is
10 3563.9 3567.6 3569.3 3571.0
difference more than 15% to first-order natural
frequency(126.33Hz).The fan runs stable, resonance
does not occur. With the increasing speed of fan, the speed increased to 2000rpm,its frequency is 133.33Hz,
frequency of the exciting stress gets larger, when the this frequency is closer to the first-order natural

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frequency (131.09Hz), blades will occur unstable
vibration and affect the aerodynamic performance of the
blade and reduce the efficiency of fan. If fan runs under
this condition in long-term, the blade will fatigue and
easily appear crack or even fracture. Therefore, when
adjust to the speed in the actual operation process, we
should take full account of the natural frequency of blade,
avoiding resonance and extending the service life of fans.
3.3 Harmonic response analysis of exciting force
Application of computational fluid dynamics
software Fluent to simulate the flow field, we can get the
exciting force on blade is 140.9N. Load exciting force on
blade and calculate response displacement and stress.
The results are shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8.
dramatically, so we can make sure that resonance occurs
in nearby 120Hz and point A radial response
displacement is 5.72mm now, it is 36.9 times of exciting
force frequency in 96Hz correspondence response
displacement(0.155mm). Figure 10 shows us point B on
the blade response force size when exciting force
frequency changes, its tendency is similar to Figure 9
and maximum response stress 25.7226Mpa, it is 27.65
times of frequency in 96Hz correspondence response
stress(0.90423Mpa).
7.0
6.5
6.0
5.5
5.0

responese sess/mm
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
40 60 80 100 120 140 160
frequency/HZ

Figure 7. Response displacement Figure 9. response displacement changes with

the excitation frequency at point A

30

27

24

21
equenlent stress/MPa

18

15

12

3
Figure 8. Response stress
0
As can be seen from the figure7 and figure 8, the
maximum displacement response to exciting force is 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

0.919 mm, the maximum stress value of 14.8MPa. The frequency/HZ

maximum stress is lower than the allowable stress of the
material and meets the design requirements.
With the changes of the exciting force frequency,
Figure 9 shows us point A on the blade response
displacement size, as we can see from the picture, when
exciting force frequency increases from 110Hz to 120 Hz,
point A radial response displacement increases
dramatically, when exciting force frequency adds to
140Hz, point A radial response displacement decreases
Figure 10. response stress changes with the excitation frequency at
point B
4 Conclusions
In this paper, the dynamic characteristics of blade have
been analyzed with Ansys software. We can get the first
10 natural frequencies of blade under rated and resonant

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 Power and Energy Engineering Conference 2010

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