Integrated design and experimental research for curved fore-body and 3D inward turning inlet

An integrated design method for the curved fore-body and the 3D inward-turning inlet is proposed firstly. For the effect of the side-wall expansion angle, two models with different expansion angles are designed and constructed. Wind tunnel tests for them were carried out under the design condition Ma=6.0 and α=0°. The numerical and experimental results show that the new developed integration method is reasonable. The initial conical shock wave induced by the curved fore-body is able to match the cowl lip perfectly so that the spill flow from the cowl lip can be reduced effectively. The mass flow capture capacity of the integrated model can be improved by increasing of the expansion angle in the present work. However, the growth of the expansion angle can possibly depress the back-pressure characteristic of the integrated configuration. Therefore, a proper expansion angle should be selected to meet the overall requirement for the integrated model.