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MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING
Submitted by
CHIRAG.D.SONI
Bangalore-560067
1. ………………………. ………………………..
2. ……………………….
Abstract
Topic: Study of air intake configurations in aircraft.
Contents
Chapter1 Page no:
1.1 Introduction to air intake 1
1.2 Need of air intake system 2
1.3 Air intake Design requirements 3
1.4 Intake configurations 4
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
References 41
List of figures
Chapter 1 page no:
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Introduction
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
The air flow enters the intake and is required to reach the engine face
with optimum levels of total pressure and flow uniformity hence need of
an air intake system.
The air intake requires enormous effort properly to control airflow to the
engine.
Furthermore this flow when leaving the intake section to enter the
compressor should be uniform stable and of high quality.
The engine intake must be a low drag, light weight construction that is
carefully and exactly manufactured.
These above conditions must be met not only during all phases of flight
but also on the ground with the aircraft at rest and the engine demand
maximum, thrust prior to take off
1. Plenum Intake
2. Bifurcated Intake
3. Podded nacelle Inlet
4. Pitot Inlet
5. NACA Submerged Inlet
Subsonic intakes
Plenum Intakes
Bifurcated intakes are used primarily in single engine installations with side
intakes Fig 1.4 shows a bifurcated intake.
Pitot type intakes have been applied to many fighter airplanes. They are not
influenced by the flow field of other airplane components. However, they
require very long ducts which cause extra weight and loss in pressure recovery.
The NACA submerged type intake is not very efficient for use with
propulsion installations. However, they are frequently used as intakes of
auxiliary systems (auxiliary power unit, heating and avionics bay cooling) as
seen in Fig 1.7
Except for the Pitot and the Podded nacelle type intakes, all jet
engines intakes are equipped with boundary layer diverters (or B.L. Splitters).
If such boundary layer diverters are not used, large pressure recovery losses
(thus losses in thrust) are incurred.
A major consideration in jet fighter intake design is the behavior of the intake
at very high angles of attack and sideslip. Compressor stall and engine surging
are easily induced in such conditions.
Cross section A0, of the stream tube well ahead of the intake is determined by
the engine mass flow rate, the size of the stream tube may simply be
determined by applying the continuity considerations. Continuity requires mass
flow rate m. at any cross section within the stream tube to be the same, which is
hence a constant. Mass flow rate at cross-section A0, in particular ,exactly
equals mass flow rate at the compressor face A=2=,which itself reflects engine
mass flow .hence:
m.0=m.2
Mass conservation may be expressed for the a particular flow path station
(upstream infinity) and 2(compressor face) as follows
m.0=p0v0A0
m.2=p2v2A2
Therefore cross section of the stream tube at upstream infinity will result as
simple expression:
A0= (p2/p0)*(v2/v0)*A2
If air density is assumed not to change within the stream tube between the
stations 0 and 2 ,then stream tube cross-section A0 depends only on aircraft
flight speed v0 , because air stream velocity at compressor face is determined
In order to prevent the flow from separating along the walls , the interior
surface of the diffuser must be carefully shaped , and be smooth and
unobstructed by steps or kinks , otherwise the sensitive boundary layer
(between main stream and diffuser wall ) may separate. This would result in
partial losss of kinetic energy and its conversion into unusable heat, a process
termed friction which always results in a degradation of total pressure. If it
were possible for the deceleration flow to convert all its of kinetic energy into
pressure , then total pressure of the flow would remain constant and so-called
pressure recovery would be 100%
Today’s high-subsonic cruise flight mach numbers which are in range of mach
0.78 to 0.85 call for an air intake design which features a relatively ‘thin’ intake
i.e. where external dimension of intake is not much greater than the internal
diameter. This will result in a small radius, leading to a relatively thin lipped air
intake.
If the external flow is made to pass the intake lip ‘correctly’, additional drag
resulting from ram effect ahead of the intake may effectively be reduced. Such
a reduction is accomplished solely by the air stream flowing around the nose.
As the flow follows the contour of the nose, excessive velocities can develop
which may even attains (low) supersonic speeds. This will cause a zone of low
pressure around the intake‘s circumference , leading to the exertion of an
aerodynamic force with a component acting in the direction of engine thrust
and termed as nose suction [3.2b].
Due to its small radius, the intake lip is relatively sharp-edged which
made necessary a secondary intake system that comes into effect at high
airflow rates with aircraft static , or at low speed.
The slotted inlet embodies 12 sets of outer doors pivoted at the cowl.
The door opens against a spring force if a [pressure drop exists between
the low static pressure on the engine side of doors relative to that of the
external side of the doors.
Chapter 3
3.1 Jet Engine Intakes: Supersonic
1. Pitot Intake
2. External compression Intake
3. Mixed (or external/internal) compression Intake
A Pitot Intake has a number of attractive features, notably low drag and
a stable flow characteristic with good flow distribution. Its disadvantage lies in
the level of pressure recovery achieved. As shown in Fig 1.6, this type of intake
has been used in aircrafts like the Mig 21.
First let us consider supersonic flow over a wedge. Such a device is installed in
the air intake of the majority of modern supersonic combat aircraft such as F-
15 F-14, MiG-29, Su-27, but also in the airliner Concorde.
previously discussed corner flow where streamlines, after passing the shock
front, are everywhere tangent to the wedge cross-section. Due to the
compressive effect of the shock, the stream line pattern downstream of the
shock is more compact hen it is upstream.
If the wedge angle exceeds the maximum value permissible for that particular
Mach number, the oblique shock will no longer remain attached but will jump
abruptly upstream to form a (detached) bow shock. Part of the bow shock
immediately ahead of the wedge apex acts like a normal shock causing the
region between shock and wedge to be sub sonic, i.e. M<1 (fig 3-10b) adjacent
regions of the shock surface bounding the center normal shock region,
increasingly bend in a downstream direction to form an oblique shock with,
finally, degenerates into a (weak) mach line (not shown) .
In order to design aircraft of low wave drag, the angle of the shock front must
be small. This implies, apart from the supersonic Mach number flown, that
nose sections of intake and wing must be given a knife-edge shape. We now
understand why subsonic intakes with their well rounded nose sections are of
less use in supersonic flow: the detached bow shock creates high drag which
will absorb much of the engine’s thrust, so that supersonic flight is virtually
unattainable.
The action of diffusing i.e. the deceleration of flow and build up of pressure is
accomplished in two steps:
In the diverging (subsonic) duct, where the flow is sill faster then would
be acceptable to the compressor, deceleration of the flow continues with
pressure increasing further.
Case 2
Suppose the air flow demand of the engine is reduced. Then static pressure p2
at the compressor face will rise ,less air is allowed to enter the intake, the
excess airflow after being processed through the shock front is forced to flow
outside the inlet as a so-called spill-over flow (fig 3-13b).
Case 3
Suppose the air flow demand of the engine to be greater than the intake can so
provide. At first, this is equivalent o pressure drop at the compressor inlet,
either pressure decreasing upstream, too. This will eventually cause the shock
[MVJCE, Department of aero] Page 36
[Study of air intake in aircrafts] [2009]
Case1: If the normal shock that terminates the supersonic flow regime is
exactly at the position of the diffuser throat (i.e. where the cross section is a
minimum), the airflow rate is a maximum fig (3.15). This condition is denoted
as critical. The inclination angle of the first oblique shock wave is then
determined both by the free stream mach no and the apex angle of wedge or
cone. Such a shock configuration assures acceptable intake efficiency and
usually corresponds to the design pint of the diffuser.
Case 2: In case of a pressure drop at the compressor face, the normal shock
will be swallowed to adopt a quasi-stable position farther down-stream within
the intake duct (fig 3-15c). This condition is denoted as supercritical and, due
to greater strength of the (terminating) normal shock, poor flow quality results.
Case 3: Now assume a rise in the pressure at the compressor face such as
caused by a reduced airflow demand of the engine. The normal shock will then
be expelled from its throat position, air flow is reduced. Intake operation in this
case is subcritical (fig 3-15b).such a shock position is highly unstable, the
shock oscillating at high rate between swallowed and expelled positions. This
oscillating motion causes high frequency pressure oscillations in the intake;
known as diffuser buzz a sound feared by pilot’s as it can indicate one of the
most dangerous conditions of the propulsion system.
What is remarkable about the inlet is its positioning fairly well under the
fuselage a solution resulting from the requirements of aircraft
The intake itself features a short duct which not only contributes to the
light weight design of the aircraft, but also minimizes flow distortion
ahead of the compressor.
Another problem facing the combat aircraft is the hot gas from gun
muzzles that may be ingested and cause engine flame out. By placing
the gun muzzle above the leading-edge extension or strake, the high
temperature gas from the gun will be kept effectively away from the
intake before being carried away by the external flow as shown in fig 3-
17 below.
The intake cowl features a moderately blunt lower lip that transitions
into a sharp leading-edge extension or splitter plate on the upper side
(close to the fuselage). The splitter plate extends 25cmsahead of the
lower cowl lip to isolate the inlet normal shock from the fuselage
boundary layer (fig-17b).
Fig (3.17)
References