Serpentine Inlet Performance Enhancement Using Vortex Generator Based Flow Control
Institution:
Internal Flow Research Center, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Abstract:
In order to provide the line of-sight blockage of the engine face for an advanced Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicle(UCAV), a highly curved serpentine inlet is proposed and experimentally studied. Based on the static pressure distribut ion measurement along the wall, the flow separation is found at the top wall of the second S duct for the baseline inlet design, which yields a high flow distortion at the exit plane. To improve the flow uniformity, a single array of vortex generators (VGs) is employed within the inlet. In this experimental study, the effects of mass flow ratio, free stream Mach number, angle of attack and yaw on the performance of a serpentine inlet instrumented with VGs are obtained. Results indicate: (1) Compared with the baseline serpentine design without flow control the application of the VGs promotes the mixing of core flow and the low momentum flow in the boundary layer and thus prevents the flow separation. Under the design condition, the exit flow distortion (
