Abstract

Fan noise is a critical issue for manufacturers, as they must balance aerodynamic and acoustic performance. Coupling a fan with a radiator in a pulling configuration introduces significant challenges. Since it is challenging to perform scale-resolved simulations of a radiator, an equivalent fluid approach is adopted. This study investigates the effects of an equivalent porous medium that mimics the radiator and casing geometry on the inflow and noise sources in an industrial cooling fan. Several configurations are investigated using high-fidelity simulations. While aerodynamic performance remains consistent, the equivalent porous-medium and casing geometry introduce inflow distortions, causing tonal noise variations, particularly in the full-module configuration. 

PSD Slides

Speaker

Francesco Bellelli is a Postdoctoral Researcher in computational aeroacoustics at Politecnico di Torino. He earned his PhD at Politecnico di Torino in 2026 with a dissertation on numerical simulations and analytical modeling of fan noise in installed conditions, with a particular focus on physics-based noise-reduction strategies.
Francesco's current research focuses on defining and implementing a time-domain impedance boundary condition for lined surfaces.

@FB 
Postdoctoral Researcher — Politecnico di Torino