Numerical analysis on the conceptual design of an air-breathing engine inlet working in mach number 3∼5.5

Chao Huo, Zhenhua Yang, Zhengze Zhang, Peijin Liu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Based on the equal-intensity shock theory, this article designed a supersonic inlet working in Mach number 3.0∼5.5 with the background of an air-breathing engine. The inlet applied the four-shock train mixed compression configuration and inserted a sidewall compression at the beginning of the isolator. Through developing effective 3D RANS computations validated by current experiments, the performance of the designed inlet was identified. The designed inlet self-starts at freestream Mach number Ma = 3.0 under which the total pressure recovery coefficient has dramatic increment, and the aerodynamic choking at the inlet throat no longer presents; the inlet keeps working at all studied flight states with zero angle of attack (AoA) and achieves shock-on-lip at the design point Ma = 5.0. Both positive and negative AoAs can disrupt the equal-intensity shock allocations, which degrade the inlet performance. The inlet obtains maximum total pressure recovery coefficient at zero AoA. The maximum back pressure at Ma = 3.0∼5.5 obtained by the inlet surpasses the requirements and keeps a certain margin. The inlet performance basically meets all the goals proposed by the engine.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)294-307
Number of pages14
JournalProceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume236
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2022

Keywords

  • Air-breathing engine
  • design methodology
  • mixed compression
  • numerical analysis
  • supersonic inlet

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