Experimental study of the aeroelastic response and performance of a hypersonic intake

The response and performance of an aeroelastic hypersonic intake is studied experimentally, using fundamental geometry and structural boundary conditions. The asymmetric Prandtl-Meyer intake, derived from a three-shock intake, is simplified for the purposes of conducting the study of aeroelasticity. The most relevant deforming component is the compression ramp, which is treated as a cantilevered surface to emulate the global deformation of the intake. The aeroelasticity effects are measured in terms of the intake’s static global deformation, dynamic aero-structural response, and the performance indicated by total pressure recovery (TPR) in the isolator. In addition, the evolution of shock wave-boundary layer interaction (SWBLI) in the isolator is studied. Experiments were conducted at the TUSQ hypersonic facility in Queensland, Australia, at Mach 5.85. Measurements of the flowfield properties were carried out using pressure transducers, pressure-sensitive paints, and schlieren flow visualization. The dynamic structural response was measured using digital image correlation (DIC), as well as image tracking from the schlieren. A point measurement of pitot pressure in the isolator was taken to quantify the effects of intake deformation on total pressure and the intake performance. Extensive use of numerical simulations of the 2D and 3D intake domain was made to design the experiment, as well as to characterize the flow physics. Results show that the intake deformation directly correlates with a drop in total pressure in the isolator. Numerical results that explore larger deformations also indicate that the intake approaches a critical phenomena in the isolator, i.e., local unstart.