Experimental Investigation of the Internal Compression Inside a Hypersonic Intake

TLDR

The study investigates how the isolator section affects pressure recovery and start behavior in hypersonic intakes. Experiments were conducted on a geometrically adjustable intake model, measuring wall pressure distributions and schlieren images to analyze internal flow. Results show how isolator length variations influence pressure recovery and start behavior, and the experimental data agree with CFD predictions.

Abstract

An experimental study for the internal shock system of a series of inlet models is presented and discussed. The study has been carried out within the framework of the Special Collaborative Research Center on Hypersonics (SFB 253) at the Aachen University of Technology. The investigation focuses on the influence of the isolator section on the pressure recovery and the start behavior of the intake. For the experiments, a model was constructed which allows geometry variations. The internal intake flow is investigated by use of wall pressure distributions along the intake walls as well as by pictures of a color-schlieren system. Within this publication, measurements with varying isolator length are presented and disscussed. Additionally the data are compared to numerical results of CFD computations.