Influence of internal contraction section configurations on self-starting ability of hypersonic inlets

To explore the influence of different internal contraction section configurations on self-starting ability of hypersonic inlets, the self-starting processes of two-dimensional hypersonic inlets with angulated and curved internal contraction sections were investigated using quasi-steady numerical simulations. The self-starting ability and the variation of separation zone in the self-starting process of two inlet configurations with different initial cowl compression angles were compared. And influences of compression strength distributions along internal contraction section on self-starting ability were also analyzed. Results show: (1) for the same internal contraction ratio, different internal contraction section configurations and initial cowl compression angles influence the self-starting ability of hypersonic inlets greatly. And the self-starting ability of the curved internal contraction section configuration is much better than that of the angulated one. (2) Both the total compression strength of the internal contraction section and the compression strength distributions along internal contraction section have major influences on the self-starting ability of hypersonic inlets. Also, the compression strength distribution determines the position of the massive separation zone under the critical condition.