Computations of unsteady transonic flow over airfoil at low Reynolds number

Transonic flow over a thin airfoil at low Reynolds number was studied numerically by directly solving two-dimensional full Navier-Stokes equations through 5th order weighted essentially non-oscillatory(WENO) scheme without using any turbulence model.A series of distinguished unsteady phenomena for a thin 2-D transonic airfoil flow were presented.Due to continuous adverse pressure gradient in the subsonic flow downstream of the sonic line, the unsteady separated boundary layer with main vortex and secondary vortex was developed at the rear of the airfoil.At the trailing edge,the vortex-shedding was characterized by periodical connection of the main vortex and secondary vortex on the other side of the airfoil.The unsteady separation and vortex-shedding occurred with the same period.On the airfoil surface,the average pulse pressure related to the unsteady supersonic region was obviously smaller than that related to the vortex-shedding at the trailing edge.With the attack angle increasing from 0° to 2°, the frequency of vortex-shedding decreases about 4.2%.At last, the turbulence intensity and many second-order statistics in the wake region were investigated.