The operating performance of positive discharge blower is markedly influenced by the pulsation of the discharge flow, but difficult to be measured with experimental methods. The internal and discharge flow of positive discharge blower with involute type three-lobe are numerically investigated, both in air cooling and countercurrent cooling conditions by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The unsteady compressible flow equations are solved using RNG x-ε turbulent model. The finite difference method and the second order upwind difference scheme are applied into discrete equations. In the numerical simulation, the dynamic mesh techniques are used to approach the rotating displacement of cell cubage and the alterability of inlet, outlet flow area. The non-uniform mesh is applied to the rotor-stator coupled area. The reliability of the numerical method is verified by simulating the inner flow and comparing with the semi-empirical theory. The flow flux curves and the distributing of velocity vector showed obvious vortex motion in all the discharge process, both in air cooling and countercurrent cooling conditions. These vortexes with different positions, intension and numbers at different rotating angles have remarkable influences on the discharge flux. For air cooling, the vortex produced a second pulsation with big-amplitude in a cycle, and led to the early appearance of maximum of backflow. For countercurrent cooling, the frequency of pulsation increased due to the pre-inflow, but the backflow at the outlet is prevented, also the pulsation strength has greatly decreased.
To investigate the effect of different disturbances in the upstream, we present numerical simulation of transition for a hypersonic boundary layer on a 5-degree half-angle blunt cone in a freestream with Mach number 6 at 1-degree angle of attack. Evolution of small disturbances is simulated to compare with the linear stability theory (LST), indicating that LST can provide a good prediction on the growth rate of the disturbance. The effect of different disturbances on transition is investigated. Transition onset distributions along the azimuthal direction are obtained with two groups of disturbances of different frequencies. It shows that transition onset is relevant to frequencies and amplitudes of the disturbances at the inlet, and is decided by the amplitudes of most unstable waves at the inlet. According to the characteristics of environmental disturbances in most wind tunnels, we explain why transition occurs leeside-forward and windside-aft over a circular cone at an angle of attack. Moreover, the indentation phenomenon in the transition curve on the leeward is also revealed.