Detailed investigation of flowfields within large scale hypersonic inlet models

Analytical and experimental investigations were conducted to determine the characteristics of the internal flows in model passages representative of hypersonic inlets and also sufficiently large for meaningful data to be obtained. Three large-scale inlet models, each having a different compression ratio, were designed to provide high performance and approximately uniform static-pressure distributions at the throat stations. A wedge forebody was used to simulate the flowfield conditions at the entrance of the internal passages, thus removing the actual vehicle forebody from consideration in the design of the wind-tunnel models. Tests were conducted in a 3.5 foot hypersonic wind tunnel at a nominal test Mach number of 7.4 and freestream unit Reynolds number of 2,700,000 per foot. From flowfield survey data the inlet entrance, the entering inviscid and viscous flow conditions were determined prior to the analysis of the data obtained in the internal passages. Detailed flowfield survey data were obtained near the centerlines of the internal passages to define the boundary-layer development on the internal surfaces and the internal shock-wave configuration. Finally, flowfield data were measured across the throats of the inlet models to evaluate the internal performance of the internal passages. These data and additional results from surface instrumentation and flow visualization studies were utilized to determine the internal flowfield patterns and the inlet performance.