V ol. 17 No.

2 CH INES E JO U RN A L O F AER ON A U TICS M ay 2004

Design and Wind Tunnel Study of a Top mounted

Diverterless Inlet

T AN Hui jun, GU O Rong wei

( I nternal Fl ow Research Cent er , Nanj ing Uni versity of A eronautics and A str onautics ,
Nanj i ng 210016 , China)

Abstract: Combined w ith a U A V o f the shape like Global Hawk, a new inlet is advanced to obtain
hig h performance in both Radar Cross Section( R CS) and aerodynamic drag. Efforts are made to achieve
t his goal such as ado pting a top mounted inlet configuration, ut ilizing the diverterless technique and
putting forw ar d a new shape of entrance. A design method is brought for ward and v er ified by wind tun
nel tests. Results indicate: ( 1) Despite the negativ e effect of the fr ont fuselage and the absence of the
conventional boundar y diverter , t he performance of the top mounted diverterless inlet advanced here
( M a: 0 50 0 70, :- 4 6, > 0 975) is equivalent to that o f convent ional S shaped inlet with di
verter; ( 2) T he integration of the inlet w ith the fuselage is realized by t he utilization of a special inlet
section and t he div erterless technique, w hich disposes t he whole inlet in the shield of the head of UA V,
improving the drag char acteristics and the stealthy performance of the aircraft; ( 3) T he bump which is
equal to the local boundary layer thickness in height can diver t the boundary layer effect ively. As a re
sult, no obv ious low total pressure zone is found at the out let of the inlet; ( 4) Accor ding to the ex peri
mental results, negative angle of attack is favorable to the total pressure recov er y and positive ang le of at
tack is favorable to the total pressur e distortion, while y aw brings bad effects on bo th; ( 5) T he design of
cowl lip is of great impo rtance to the inlet performance at y aw , therefore, further impro vement of the
inlet performance will rely on the lip shapes of the cowl chosen.
Key words: top mounted inlet; div erterless inlet; unmanned air vehicle; design; w ind tunnel test
一种无人 机用背负式无附面层隔道进气道的设计及实验验证. 谭慧俊, 郭荣伟. 中国航空 学报( 英
文版) , 2004, 17( 2) : 72- 78.
摘 要: 结合一类似于 全球 鹰! 的无 人侦察 机外形, 对一 种新型 高隐身 低外阻 进气道进 行了如 下
设计: 采用背负式布局方案, 使用无隔道技术, 并提出了一 种新的进口 截面形状。加 工了风洞 试验
模型并开展了验证性风洞实验研究工作。结果表明: ( 1) 尽管受到 机头遮蔽 的不利影响, 且没 有采
用传统的附面层隔道, 所给出的背负式无隔道 进气道方 案性能( Ma: 0 50~ 0 70, :- 4 ~ 6, >
0 975) 与常规的有隔道 S! 弯进气道相当; ( 2) 特殊进口截面形 状及无附 面层隔道技 术的采用 将进
气道与机身有机地融为一体, 使进气 道整体 都处于 飞行器头 部的遮 蔽之中, 这 有利于改 善飞行 器
的阻力特 性和隐身性能; ( 3) 进气道出口截面上未发现因附面层吸 入而造成 的低总压区, 这说 明高
度与当地附面层厚度相当的进口鼓包能有效地隔除附面层中能量较低的气流; ( 4) 研究范围内, 负
攻角对进 气道的总压恢复系数有利, 正攻角 对周向 畸变指数 有利, 而侧 滑角则 对两者均 有着不 利
影响; ( 5) 唇口的设 计对进气道的侧滑角性能有着重要影响, 进气道性能 的进一步提高应考虑唇口
设计的改进。
关键词: 背负式进气道; 无隔道进气道; 进气道; 无人机; 设计; 实验
文章编号: 1000 9361( 2004) 02 0072 07 中图分类号: V211. 3 文献标识码: A

T op mounted inlets have advant ages over con
vent ional inlet conf igurat ions as leav ing more space
underneat h t o place missiles or ot her weapons, pro
viding bett er environments for g round crew , in
R eceived dat e: 2003 05 19; R evision received dat e: 2004 02 10
creasing st ealt hy capabilities t o up looking radar,
and prevent ing foreign objects from ing est ing int o
eng ines[ 1] . T hey are quit e common on commercial
aircraf ts w hen t hree engines are desired like on t he
 M ay 2004 D esign and W ind Tunnel St udy of a T op M ount ed Divert erless Inlet
M cDonald Doug las DC 10, MD 11. However, t he
complex aerodynamics issues, especially at high an
g les of att ack, impeding t he top mounted inlets∀
w ide use on milit ary aircraft s, and at present t hey
are mainly applied t o UCAVs and bombers such as
Global Hawk, X 45, X 47 and B 2.
In t he fift ies of last century , the explorat ions
of the divert erless t echnique w ere init iat ed by re
searchers in NACA Lew is Laborat ory [ 2] . But t he
diverterless technique did not get furt her at tent ions
unt il its recent successful applicat ion in X 35. T his
unique technique, eliminat ing t he divert er and ot h
er f eat ures associat ed w ith boundary lay er m anage
ment, is realized by desig ning a three dimensional
surface, or bump, f ront of the inlet apert ure,
w hich can decelerat e part of t he com ing f low and
create a pressure gradient that pushes the boundary
layer aw ay from the inlet . T hus, t his technique is
able to reduce t he overall w eight of t he aircraf t, cut
dow n t he front al area of the aircraf t[ 3] , improve
the drag characterist ics and enhance t he st ealt hy
capabilit ies by decreasing corner reflections of radar
w aves.
According to dom est ic open literat ure, lit t le
w ork has been made on t he top mount ed inlet or
the divert erless technique, let alone t he combina
t ion of both. Integ rated w ith a UAV of t he conf ig
urat ion like Global Hawk, a top mount ed S shaped
inlet utilizing the diverterless t echnique is dev ised
and verif ied by w ind tunnel t ests in t his study.
1 Description of the Forebody
F ig . 1 demonst rat es t he f orepart of an aircraf t,
w hich resem bles t he Global Haw k, the UAV of
U S Air Force. T he dist ance from t he apex of t he
fuselage to t he leading edg e of t he inlet is L . As
shown in t he f ig ure, a bulge which is 0 06L in
height rests on the top side of the fuselage. Because
the w ing s are below and far aw ay f rom the inlet , it
is obvious t hat t hey have litt le inf luence on the per
f orm ance of t he inlet at low incidence. Accordingly
the design and w ind t unnel test s of the inlet in t his
paper have not taken the eff ect of the wings int o
account .
# 73 #
Fig. 1 Sketch of the fuselag e
2 Design of t he Inlet
T he bulge at the front fuselage shadows t he
top mounted inlet and is believed to reduce t he
front al aspect Radar Cross Sect ion ( RCS ) of t he
inlet . H ow ever, it is a great challenge t o design t he
inlet because t he bulge speeds up the development
of t he boundary layer, resulting in the apert ure of
the inlet mostly in t he boundary layer. In order t o
solve the problem mentioned, t he Global Haw k
adopt s hig her boundary diverter, w hich lift s t he
inlet to ameliorate the f low condit ion in front of t he
aperture. But t his approach w ill increase RCS and
the aerodynamic drag of t he aircraf t. Hence, a top
mount ed inlet int egrated w it h the f uselage is
brought forward to dispose t he w hole inlet in t he
shield of t he bulge. T he diverterless t echnique is u
t ilized in this design t o deal w it h the t hick bound
ary flow and t o obt ain bet ter conformance. Addi
t ional endeavours are also m ade to acquire f avorable
inlet perf orm ance.
T hough the conventional design method[ 4] of
S shaped inlet is still used here, a creat ive cross
sect ion is come up w ith, w hich conveniently inte
g rate t he inlet w it h t he f uselage and the bump em
ployed by t he divert erless t echnique. T he proce
dure of t he inlet design is described in det ail in t he
follow ing.
2. 1 General geometrical parameters of the inlet
F or some general parameters of the inlet such
as lengt h, offset and exit area are subject t o geo
metric const raints of t he fuselage and t he engine,
they are alw ays know n w hen one set out to design
a inlet. According to a selected area rat io, t he en
t rance area of t he inlet can t hen be decided. T he
paramet ers used in t his paper are summarized in
T able 1, t wo of w hich are normalized by t he diam
eter of the ex it .
 # 74 # T A N Hui jun, GU O Rong w ei CJA

Table 1 General geometrical parameters of the inlet 2. 4 Design of the diffuser

Lengt h/ Diameter O f fset / Diameter A rea rat io Equivalent angle/ ( ) T he cross sectional area ( A i ) at arbit rary sta
5 0 1 6 1 3 1 5 t ion of the diff user can be obt ained by its entrance

2. 2 Design of the entrance shape area, exit area and area dist ribution. Ref erring t o
Fig. 2, it is not diff icult t o deduce t he mat hemat i
T he reason w hy t he convent ional cross sec
cal expression of any cross sectional area
t ions like ellipse or racew ay shape can not be used
!a ici !bic i i
here is t hat the diverterless technique requires t he Ai = + + !( r i + a i + b i ) 2
2 2 360
integrat ion of the entrance section w it h t he bump,
i 2
w hile neither of t hese can sat isfy this requirement . - 360!r i ( 1)
T he new ly dev ised cross sect ion is pict ured in F ig. ai bi ri
Lett ing k 1, i = ,k = ,k = and assum ing
2, w hich consist s of a cirque ( centre ang le , in ci 2, i c i 3, i ci
t ernal radius r and ext ernal radius r + a + b) and these rat ios and i are know n, Eq. ( 1) can be
four quarter ellipses ( major axis a or b and minor rew rit ten as
ax is c) . For t his configuration t here are t wo mer Ai k l , i + k 2, i
ci = M= !
its, one is t hat it can be int egrated w ith the bump M 2
and t ransformed to the shape of t he engine f ace i i
+ ( k l , i + k 2, i + k 3, i ) 2 - k 23, i
easily, and t he ot her is that it unit es t he inlet w ith 360 360
the fuselage t o the ut most deg ree achiev ing low which means t hat the configuration of this sect ion
aerodynam ic drag and low observ abilit y. is ex act ly determined. k 1, i , k 2, i , k 3, i and i vary
smoot hly and monotonously from k 1, in , k 2, in , k 3, in
and in to k 1, out, k 2, out, k 3, out and out when t he sta
t ion moves from the ent rance to the ex it . T he val
ues of k 1, in , k 2, in , k 3, in and in det erm ine the shape
of t he entrance section, which are select ed 1 0,
2 5, 2 5 and 110 individually in this st udy.
While determining k 1, out, k 2, out , k 3, out and out one
F ig. 2 Sketch of the entrance section should be more careful to guarant tee t hat the exit
of t he dif fuser is an ex act circle. T he values of
2 3 Centerl ine and area distributions
1 0, 1 0, 4 0 and 0 are capable to meet the re
T he centerline and t he area distribut ions are of
quirement well and are used here. Result show s
g reat significance to the performance of the inlet.
that t he boundary condit ions of k 1, i , k 2, i , k 3, i and
Centerline shapes determ ine t he turning of the in
i work w ell ( F ig . 3) .
t ernal f low and t hereby decide t he transverse pres
sure gradient and t he secondary flow in t he duct.
Area dist ributions det erm ine the diff usivit y and
hence control t he streamw ise pressure gradient im
posed on the flow. Inappropriate cent erline shape
or area dist ribut ion may both lead t o f low separa
t ion. Ref. [ 4] provides three poly nomial funct ions
w hich are suit able for both centerline shape and F ig. 3 3 D view of the diffuser
area distribut ion. Based upon previous investiga 2. 5 Design of the bump
t ions, the cent erline distribut ion w it h a modest T he success of t he diverterless technique w ill
turning and t he area dist ribution w it h a rapid be largely dependent on t he design of t he bum p. A
change near t he ex it are used in this study. well designed bump should ex ert its f unct ions of
 M ay 2004 D esign and W ind Tunnel St udy of a T op M ount ed Divert erless Inlet
both guiding and pushing to keep the boundary lay
er aw ay f rom t he inlet by elaborat e surf ace design.
T he effect of guiding depends directly on t he bump
it self and operat es on t he low er part of t he bound
ary layer flow . But the ef fect of pushing appears
not so direct and is det ermined by the pressure gra
dient formed by t he bump act ing on t he upper lay
er . Wit h a crescent shaped cross sect ion and a
polynomial vert ical section line, t he bump is ap
prox imate t o a cone shaped surf ace, w hich is t an
gent to t he fuselage and t he inlet at it s boundaries.
Computational result s indicate t hat bet ter perf or
mance of the inlet can be achieved by a bump of
w hich t he max imum heig ht is equivalent to t he
thickness of the local boundary layer ( evaluat ed by
turbulent boundary layer of flat plate ) and t he
lengt h is about five times the max imum height .
2. 6 Design of cowl lips
In general, lips of subsonic inlets are of impor
t ance t o the performance of t he inlet. And, w it hal,
in t his paper it act s as an addit ional measure assist
ing the bump t o push boundary f low aw ay from t he
inlet. A lip scheme wit h variable section line and
[ 5]
v ariable lengt h is adopt ed. NACA 1 85 100 lip
at top point of t he ent rance ( T point in F ig . 2)
forming a local ∃dif fuser∀ ( F ig. 4) to acquire high
er pressure in reg ion A t han t hat of t he outside.
Sym met ry airfoil is at t he intersect ion point w ith
the bump ( S point in F ig . 2) to prevent perf or
mance deterioration at yaw . T he ut ilization of vari
able lengt h lip gets a forw ard sw ept cow l which co
operat es w ith the local ∃ diffuser∀ and ensures t he
majorit y of the boundary layer f low spilling out at
the aft notch.
Fig . 4 F eature o f the upper lip and the inlet bump
F ig. 5 gives an enlarg ed view of t he inlet ∀ s
forepart. In virtue of t he divert erless technique and
# 75 #
the innovat ive cross sect ion of the inlet , an int egra
t ion of the inlet and t he fuselage is obt ained w hich
minimizes t he inlet∀ s heig ht and t hereby brings t he
whole inlet into the shadow of t he bulg e of t he
fuselage.
F ig. 5 Enlarg ed view of the inlet∀ s forepart
In addit ion, t he junct ion of t he inlet and t he
eng ine ( w it h center body) is designed using con
st ant area dist ribut ion. At the same t ime, t he de
sign of outside surface of the inlet is also conduct
ed.
3 Experimental Verification
In order to obtain t he aerodynamic perf or
mance of t he new ly designed inlet and verify t he
is design approach, an experiment al inlet model is de
signed and manufactured and t hen test ed in a wind
tunnel.
3. 1 Inlet model and test tunnel
T he complet e t est model consist s of fuselage,
top mounted inlet, eng ine cent erbody, pressure
rakes and conic flow plug as illustrated in Fig. 6.
Due to the constraints of w ind t unnel blockage and
the m easurement of internal f low , t he w ings are
not taken into considerat ion. T he t est model has a
tot al length of 1000mm and the diameter at t he
outlet of the inlet, where the measurement of t he
pressures is made, is 40m m.
F ig. 6 Sketch of the test model
An eight leg rake is inst alled at t he out let of
the inlet for measurement of st eady tot al pressure.
 # 76 # T A N Hui jun, GU O Rong w ei
Each leg has five probes, providing a tot al of 40 lo
cat ions. Four st at ic pressure taps are locat ed on t he
inner surface of the inlet equally along the circum
f erence and in a plane cont aining the face of the t o
t al pressure probes. T he m ass f low plug , placed at
the model ex it and driven by an electric mot or,
prov ides flow cont rol for t he measurement s at dif
f erent mass flow rat ios.
T he experiment al study is accomplished at
NH 1 high speed wind t unnel of NUAA. T he
Reynolds number of t he w ind t unnel ranges f rom
1 2 % 107 to 1 77 % 10 7 . During this t est, t he free
st ream Mach number varies f rom 0 5 t o 0 8, ang le
of at tack from - 4 t o 6 and yaw from 0 to 2 .
T he maximum blockage of the t est sect ion is 4 3%
w hile t he inlet model is inst alled.
3 2 Experimental resul ts
T he performance of the inlet is evaluat ed by
the t otal pressure recovery coef ficient ( ) and cir
cular t otal pressure distort ion ( ∀ ) . In the f ollow
ing text , t he eff ects of mass flow ratio, f ree st ream
M ach number, angle of at tack and yaw are illus
t rat ed. Cont ours of tot al pressure at the outlet of
the inlet are also presented.
( 1) T ot al pressure recovery coef ficient at dif
f erent mass flow rat ios
In Fig. 7, t he tot al pressure recovery coeff i
cient is plott ed as a funct ion of mass f low rat io at 0
ang le of att ack and yaw . It can be seen t hat , at
first , w it h t he descent of mass f low rat io t he recov
ery coeff icient ascends due t o the reduction of t he
frict ion loss. But when the m ass flow rat io goes
dow n further the recovery coeff icient t ends dow n
Fig . 7 T o tal pressure r ecovery coefficient v ersus
mass flo w ratio( = 0 , #= 0 )
CJA
wards. T he possible reason may be that at low
mass f low rat io more low energy flow near t he
fuselage enters t he inlet relat ive t o t he total mass
flow captured.
( 2) Ef fects of free st ream Mach number
F ig. 8 shows the variat ion of tot al pressure re
covery coeff icient w it h f ree st ream M ach number.
It can be noted t hat the recovery coef ficient is in
sensitive t o M ach number up to 0 7 and remains
above 0 975 st ably. T his indicat es that , despite
the neg at ive impact of t he bulge and t he absence of
the boundary diverter, the recovery coeff icient of
the inlet tested is equivalent t o that of convent ional
S shaped inlet w it h diverter. How ever, w hile t he
Mach number is greater than 0 7, t he recovery co
eff icient t akes on a sharp decline. T his t rend is
probably aroused by a local shock occurring at t he
back of t he bulge, w hich thickens rapidly t he
boundary layer and det eriorat es t he flow condit ion
front of the inlet. It also means that t he fuselage
conf igurat ion like Global H aw k is not suitable for
high subsonic flight .
Fig . 8 T o tal pressure recovery coefficient versus
free stream M ach number
Fig. 9 Cir cular distortion coefficient versus free
stream Mach number
 M ay 2004 D esign and W ind Tunnel St udy of a T op M ount ed Divert erless Inlet
For all test M ach numbers, t he circular total
pressure distortion keeps below 1. 2% , as show n in
F ig. 9. It means t hat the dist ribut ion of tot al pres
sure losses is nearly constant along circular direc
t ion.
( 3) Eff ect s of incidence
T he model is tested at six ang les of at tack, of
w hich t he range is f rom - 4 t o 6 . Fig. 10 and
F ig. 11 present t he ef fects of ang le of at tack on t o
t al pressure recovery coef icient and circular total
pressure dist ortion respectively. It can be observed
from t hese t wo f igures that negative angle of at tack
benefit s recovery coef ficient and aff ect s distort ion
slightly, w hile posit ive angle of at tack affects re
covery coefficient slight ly and improves distort ion
obv iously. For t he case of negative ang le, it can be
explained as follows: on t he one hand, w it h nega
t ive angle of att ack rising, the ent rance of t he inlet
is exposed t o f ree stream more and more, result ing
in more main flow captured and thereby t he in
crease of tot al pressure recovery coef ficient; on t he
ot her hand, the local flow ang le of at t ack at the en
F ig. 10 T otal pressure recovery coefficient versus
angle of attack
Fig . 11 Circular total pressure distortion co efficient
versus ang le of attack
# 77 #
trance of the inlet is lower t han that of free st ream
because of the influence of the upper fuselage,
which results in a f ew effect on circular distort ion.
For t he case of posit ive angle, because the count er
rot at ing vort ex pair developed by t he up w ash f low
around t he fore fuselage sweeps off part of t he low
energy flow in front of t he inlet , t he curve of t he
tot al pressure recovery goes up a bit f rom 0 t o
higher incidence and hence a remarkable drop of
circular dist ortion occurs.
( 4) Ef fects of yaw
T he ef fects of yaw on t otal pressure coeff icient
and circular tot al pressure distort ion are illustrated
in F ig. 12 and Fig. 13. It can be seen that 2 y aw
has lit t le ef fect on recovery coeff icient but increases
dist ortion distinctively ( still less t han 2% ) . More
over, w ith t he increase of t he Mach number, t he
performance of the inlet is det eriorating , in part ic
ular, at hig h M ach number, which can be associat
ed w it h unfavorable f low occurring near the lip at
higher M ach number. Consequently, t he improve
ment of perf orm ance at y aw w ill lies on the melio
ration of cow l lips.
Fig . 12 Effects of yaw on to tal pressure recovery
co efficient
F ig. 13 Effects of yaw on circular distortion coefficient
 # 78 # T A N Hui jun, GU O Rong w ei
( 5) T otal pressure contours
F ig . 14 demonst rat es the t otal pressure dist ri
butions at t he outlet of t he inlet w hile Ma = 0 7,
= 0 , #= 0 . T he t ot al pressure cont ours make a
feature of high m agnit ude and uniform distribut ion
and no obvious low tot al pressure reg ion ex ists. All
of t hese suggest t hat t he diverterless t echnique used
in this paper can ef fectively push the low energ y
flow aw ay from t he inlet , w hich is validated by
CFD result s ( F ig . 15) [ 6] .
F ig. 14 Contours of total pr essure recov er y coefficient
at the outlet
Fig . 15 Streamlines released from points 2mm
away from fuselage
4 Conclusions
Design and w ind t unnel verificat ion of a top
mount ed S shaped inlet ut ilizing t he diverterless
CJA
technique are reported. During the design process,
the int eg rat ion of the inlet w it h t he fuselage is real
ized by t he utilizat ion of a special inlet sect ion and
elim inat ion of convent ional diverter, w hich dispos
es t he whole inlet in the shadow of the bulge im
proving t he drag characterist ics and t he st ealt hy
performance of t he aircraft . Wind tunnel tests indi
cat e t hat the perf orm ance of t he inlet advanced here
is equivalent to t hat of convent ional S shaped inlet
wit h diverter, so t he diverterless t echnique adopted
is successful.
References
[ 1] V ooren A , Kewenter H, Edefur H . T op mount ed air inlet for
supersonic & transonic milit ary aircraft [ OL] . ( 2001 05 16 )
ht t p: / / w w w . ave. kt h. se/ education/ msc/ cours es/ 4E1232/
2001/ aero2/ T M I R eport . pdf.
[ 2] S imon P C, Brow n D W, Huf f R G . Performance of ext ernal
compression bump inlet at M ach numbers of 1 5 t o 2 0 [ R ] .
N A CA RM E56L19, 1957.
[ 3] M cFarlan J D. Joint strike f ighter diverterless supersonic inlet
[ O L ] , ( 2000 11 15) . ht tp: / / w w w. codeon emagzine. com/
archieves/ 2000/ art icles/ july 00/ divertless 1. ht ml.
[ 4] Lee C C, Boekicker C. Subsonic dif fuser design and perf or
man ce f or advan ced fight er aircraft [ R ] , A IA A 85 3073,
1985.
[ 5] R ichard J R . A n invest igation of several NA CA series inlets at
M ach number from 0 4 to 1 29 for mass f low rat io near 1 0
[ R ] . N AS A TM X 3324, 1975.
[ 6] 谭慧俊, 郭荣伟. 背负式无 隔道进气 道的方案 设计与性 能
研究[ R ] . 南京航空航天大学科技报告, R 0202018, 2002.
T an H J, Guo R W. Design an d performance st udy of a top
mounted diverterl ess inlet [ R ] . T echnical Report of N U AA ,
R 0202018, 2002. ( in Ch inese)
Biography:
TAN Hui jun Born in 1975, he received Ph. D. degree
fro m Nanjing U niversity of Aeronaut ical and Astronautics in
2003, and then became a teacher there. His research inter
ests focus on CF D and exper imental investigations of internal
flo w. T el: ( 025) 84892203 2415, E mail: tanzi109@ 263.
net