VALIDATION OF CFD METHODS ON A BOUNDARY LAYER INGESTING INLET

The Blended-Wing-Body is a conceptual aircraft design with rear-mounted inlets that ingest boundary layer flow. Although ingesting this low-momentum flow can improve propulsive efficiency, poor inlet performance can offset and even overwhelm this potential advantage. Since CFD methods will be necessary to design and optimize these inlets, validation of these methods becomes the necessary first step. Experimental data recently made available on a semi-circular duct have been used to validate a CFD method. A grid sensitivity study has been performed to determine the necessary grid density for an accurate simulation. Two advanced turbulence models have been tested and compared. Computed velocity profiles throughout the duct agree well with the experiments. Other critical inlet performance parameters such as pressure recovery and distortion are addressed, though not directly validated due to a lack of experimental data.