Flow Analysis in Spiked Supersonic Intakes of A/C (I - Inviscid)

The intakes of supersonic aircraft are usually affected by two substantial factors, namely, the “spike” and the “angle of attack”. The aim of the present work is to analyze the flow field structure in the supersonic intakes equipped with spike. The analysis is carried out under the assumption of non viscous, steady, two dimensional and compressible fluid flow. The external flow is analyzed analytically by using the compressible flow equations. The internal flow inside the intake is analyzed by CFD technique based on finite difference approximation. The governing equations of the internal flow in their partial differential form are solved iteratively using Newton - Raphson method. The results are obtained for Mach No. ranging from 1.4 to 3 at different angles of attack (0 to 20). The analysis is carried out for two spike deflection angles, 6o and 12o. The results obtained are based mainly on the observation of the pressure recovery at inlet of the compressor for different spike configurations at different fly conditions.

Key words: CFD, Compressible Fluid Flow, Supersonic Intakes, Inviscid Flow, Spiked Intakes.