Flow Visualization of a Scramjet Inlet – Isolator Model in Supersonic Flow

Understanding the physical mechanisms and having insight to the complex flowfield involving unstart phenomena in supersonic inlets has gained considerable attention especially in the area of scramjet inlet/isolator aerothermodynamics. In this study, Schlieren visualization and computational analysis of shock wave structures in ramjet/scramjet inlet/isolator models in supersonic flow have been performed. Experiments were performed in the supersonic wind tunnel at the Trisonic Research Laboratory in Istanbul Technical University. The test section floor and the existing mechanism underneath have been modified to be able to mount the designed inlet/isolator model on the floor of the test section. The inlet/isolator model with a 12- degree compression ramp is investigated at Mach 2 both computationally and experimentally. Computations were performed using Star-CCM+ software to investigate shock wave structures in and around the three dimensional inlet/isolator model as mounted on the test section floor as a guide for designing the experimental model. In the results, the effects of shock wave – boundary layer interactions with flow separations with were observed. Ensemble average of the density distributions on a series of planes from one side wall to the other from the CFD results agreed well with the Schlieren images obtained experimentally. The structure of the shock waves and angles obtained from the Schlieren images agree quite well with those obtained from the CFD results. The effects of lambda-shock formations which indicate possible boundary layer separations, reflections of shock waves, and shock wave – boundary layer interactions on inlet unstart phenomena have been discussed. In order to investigate inlet unstart mechanism further, different experimental setups have been suggested for future work