Numerical and Experimental Studies of Oscillatory Airflows Induced by Rotation of a Grass-Cutting Blade

Abstract

Three-dimensional oscillatory airflows induced by a rotating grass-cutting blade in a cylindrical chamber are studied experimentally and numerically in this paper. Experimental pressure results are obtained using a sound pressure transducer and a data acquisition system. The measured pressure data contain background noise and high-frequency sound signals due to the blade vibrations. The background noise is separately measured; its effect on the signal is determined from a spectral subtraction algorithm. A time-accurate finite volume numerical solution to the three-dimensional incompressible unsteady Navier–Stokes equations is also sought using the sliding frame technique and the unstructured tetrahedral mesh. Convergence studies are conducted using various combinations of mesh sizes and time increments to ensure the stability of the numerical scheme. The experimental and numerical pressure results are in good agreement.