Iso-contraction-ratio methodology for the design of hypersonic inward turning inlets with shape transition

A methodology has been devised for the design of the three-dimensional hypersonic inlets with shape transition. This methodology split the objective three dimensional flowfield into a number of stream tubes, each of which has the contraction ratio that equals to the total contraction ratio of the inlet. Each stream tube is regarded as a portion of an axisymmetric supersonic flowfield designed with computational optimization. All the stream tubes are assembled through a pressure matching process to form the objective three dimensional flowfiled and the inlet surfaces. Computational results show that the inlet has a mass capture of 0.995 at design point of Mach 5.4 and 0.952 at Mach 3.5. The uniformity of flowfield inside the inlet is shown to be quite acceptable.rights reserved.