Flow Physics of a Top-Mounted Bump Inlet at Subsonic Cruise Condition

Abstract

AbstractIn order to explore the aerodynamic performance of the bump inlet with different angles of attack, a supersonic top-mounted bump inlet is designed. The objective of this study is to investigate the performance of the bump inlet under the subsonic cruise condition, especially including the flow characteristic with different angles of attack (AOA) in experiments and simulations. It is clear that the bump inlet could exclude the wall low energy boundary layer from both sides of the bump compression intake to ensure the airflow higher quality. Although the bump-induced flow filed is complex, it exhibits similar characteristics with smaller AOA. The total pressure recovery coefficient is decreasing with increase of AOA. In addition, the total pressure distortion at the aerodynamic interface plane is enhanced, but it has a tendency to decrease at small AOA. The turbulent intensity at the outlet enhances with increase of AOA. Moreover, under the same value of AOA, the internal airflow occurs separation at high back pressure, the bump inlet has higher total pressure recovery performance at low mass flow rate.KeywordsBump inletAngle of attackPressure recoveryMass flow