Numerical investigation of hypersonic curved shock sidewall compression inlet

Curved surface compression system with wall Mach number linear distribution was used to improve the topwall of the reference sidewall compression inlet, then curved shock sidewall compression inlet was obtained and Compared with the reference sidewall compression inlet. The numerical result shows that: the wall Mach number distribution of topwall with curved surface is consistent with the given Mach number distribution at the design and inviscid condition, and its wall pressure distribution is basically the same as that of two-dimensional curved surface at viscous condition. Compared with the reference sidewall compression inlet, when the topwall used curved surface compression, its wall pressure distribution was improved to a certain extent, and the pressure gradient at the end of surface changed smoothly. And the performance of off-design condition is improved effectively; especially the mass flow capture ratio increases 6% and reached 0.799 at inflow Mach number of 4, and the total pressure recovery of throat section increases 1.9%. At inflow Mach number of 5, its mass flow capture ratio increases 5.2% and reached 0.909, and the total pressure recovery of throat section increases 3.2%. With the increase of the angle of attack, the inlet's ability of capturing mass flow improved and the flow field distortion of isolator exit section decreased. But the total pressure recovery of throat section decreased sharply.