Numerical Simulation of a Hypersonic Air Intake

Numerical simulations were carried out to study the unsteady flow in an intake of hypersonic air-breathing vehicle. Unsteady RANS simulations were performed to examine started flow of the intake when cowl surface is parallel to the ramp surface. Though started, the flow was unsteady due to flow separation bubbles inside intake. Intake with larger cowl opening at which intake unstarted was also simulated. Simulations indicated unstarted flow, with large pressure oscillations. The numerically simulation results match reasonably well with experimental data. Calculated unstarting Mach number was found to be 3.0-3.2 in comparison of wind tunnel data of 3.6 for the same cowl opening angle.Defence Science Journal, Vol. 65, No. 3, May 2015, pp.189-195, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.65.825