This thesis investigates the influence of modeling a heat exchanger as a porous medium on the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic behavior of an industrial engine cooling fan with varying radiator-fan axial spacing. A combined experimental and numerical approach is adopted to evaluate how inflow turbulence, generated by the heat exchanger, affects fan broadband noise. Experimental measurements were conducted using hot-wire anemometry, while microphones were used in a semi-anechoic chamber. Experiments were compared against numerical simulations performed with a lattice-Boltzmann method framework in which the radiator is modeled as a porous medium. Velocity statistics and spectral analyses indicate general agreement in trends between experiments and simulations, although the numerical model underestimates velocity fluctuations at high frequency and slighly overpredicts acoustics.