Testing, modeling and simulation of fans working with organic vapors

The present contribution presents a test facility for fans working with organic vapors where non-ideal gas effects are relevant. In contrast to conventional testing of atmospheric fans a thermodynamic approach based on very precise temperature measurements is employed for obtaining the performance curves. The experimental data are used for validation of three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of the organic vapor flows within the turbomachinery including real gas effects. The combined experimental and numerical analysis approach enables the assessment of conventional design rules and correlations. It is found that the influence of the Mach number on efficiency is dominant, and the expected Reynolds number scaling is fully compensated by compressibility effects in the case of an organic vapor with its low speed of sound.