Computational Analysis of the Large Scale Low-Boom Supersonic Inlet

This presentation describes two computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analyses done in support of a supersonic inlet test performed at NASA Glenn Research Center in the fall of 2010. The large-scale-low-boom supersonic inlet was designed for a small supersonic aircraft that would cruise at a Mach number of 1.6. It uses an axisymmetric, external compression spike to reduce the Mach number to 0.65 at the fan face. The inlet was tested in the 8x6 supersonic wind tunnel at NASA GRC using conventional pressure probes, pressure sensitive paint, and high-speed schlieren. Two CFD analyses of the inlet were performed before the test, and compared to the experimental data afterwards. Both analyses used the WIND-US code. First, an axisymmetric analysis of the inlet, diffuser, cold pipe, and mass flow plug was performed to predict the performance of the entire system in the wind tunnel. Then a 3-D analysis of the inlet with all its interior struts was performed to predict details of the flow field and effects of angle of attack. Test results showed that the inlet had excellent performance, with a peak total pressure recovery of 96 percent, and a buzz point far outside the engine operating range. The computations agreed very well with the data, with predicted recoveries within 0.3 - 0.5 points of the measurements.