Fluid-structure interaction study of large and light axial fan blade

Numerical simulation tools are acquiring a crucial role in the virtual prototyping of new fan rotor blades. This, considering also the possibility in using new advanced materials, is opening the design capability to blades of longer, lighter and more slender structure. On this perspective, the numerical tools must be improved in order to catch also the non-linear and coupling phenomena which were been treated until now using a weak coupling approach. Here we present a fluid-structure interaction solver based on the finite element method, through its application to an existing fan blade. The study will show how, even in case of metal structure with little deformation, the coupling between fluid dynamics and structure dynamics can produce effects on both the fluid and the solid involved in the machine main process. The possibility to simulate directly both the aerodynamic and the effective structure response opens the way to improved design capabilities, avoiding time waste and costs due to long experimental testing campaign and over-dimensioned structures.