Unit-2 Inlets

Course outcomes
 CO1: Analyze overall performance of an aircraft
engines.
 CO2: Explain the relation between area ratio and
external deceleration ratio for diffuser.
 CO3: Describe the combustion mechanisms of gas
turbine engine.
 CO4: Calculate the operating characteristics of
compressors, turbines and nozzles.
 CO5: Experiment the performance of aircraft
engine components.
 Inlets
 Air intakes form the first component of all air breathing
propulsion systems.
 The word Intake is normally used in the UK and Inlet in the
United States.
 An aircraft may have one or more intakes depending upon
the engine.
 Free stream air should arrive at the compressor with the
highest possible total pressure.
 Considerable portion of the cycle pressure ratio can be
achieved in the intake itself at high flight speeds if the free
stream is diffused efficiently.
 Should perform well at high angle of attack as well as yaw
angles without disrupting flow into engine.
 Inlets
 The purpose of inlet is to provide a sufficient air
supply to the compressor with a minimum
pressure loss .
 It also has the purpose of being a diffuser that
reduces the velocity of the entering air as
efficiently as possible.
 Intake must ensure proper operation over the
entire flight regime.
 Modern aircraft intakes also contain noise-
absorbing materials.
 Inlets
The performance of inlet is related to the
following characteristics.
1.High total pressure ratio
2.Controllable flow matching requirements.
3.Good uniformity of flow.
4.Low installation drag.
5.Good starting and stability.
6.Low cost while meeting life and reliability goals.
 Inlets
Inlet efficiency can be represented as
1.Isentropic efficiency (defined in terms of
temperature rise)
2.Ram efficiency(defined in terms of pressure
rise)
Types of inlet (Based on geometry)
SIMPLE PITOT INLET
1. The most common type of a subsonic intake is the
Pitot intake.

2. Pitot intakes make the best use of the ram effect

due to forward motion.

3. These intakes also suffers the minimum loss of

ram pressure during changes in altitude.

4. However these intakes are primarily for subsonic

operation.
 BELLMOUTH INLET
• This types of inlet is essentially a bell shaped
funnel having carefully rounded shoulders.
• A bell mounted inlet is usually installed on the
engine being calibrated in a ground test stand to
find the outside static air to the face of the fan
and compressor.
• This type of inlet is easily attached and removed.
• Its only objective is to obtain very high
aerodynamic efficiency ,engine performance data
such as rated thrust, TSFC.
Transport Vs military Aircraft intake
 Subsonic Intake
1. Most subsonic intakes have fixed geometries.
2. Some of the high bypass ratio turbofans have
blow-in-doors.
3. These are designed to deliver additional air
to the engine during take-off and climb.
4. This is to cater to the fact that under these
conditions, the engine requires maximum
thrust and hence more mass flow rate of air.
 Typical subsonic intake geometry
2

1. Leading edge lip

2. Nacelle, external flow surface
3. Internal flow annulus, diffuser
 Intake performance
1. Intake operation varies tremendously over the
operating range of the engine.
2. During take-off the engine requires high mass
flow, but is operating at a lower speed.
3. A typical fixed geometry intake may have
problems delivering this mass flow.
4. The intake design must ensure that under these
extreme operating conditions too the intake
performance is not drastically affected.
 Subsonic intake performance

Take off
climb

cruise Top speed

 Subsonic intake performance

• The compression in a subsonic intake consists of two components :

-Pre-entry compression or external compression
- Internal compression or the compression in the diffuser

• Pre-entry compression is always isentropic, whereas internal

compression is not.
• However trying to maximize pre-entry compression may result in
boundary layer separation within the internal compression.
• Designers try to optimize between external and internal
compression.
 Subsonic intake operating mode
• At low airspeeds, the stream tube
approaching the lip is larger in cross-section
than the lip flow area.
• Beginning around Mach 0.85, shock waves can
occur as the air accelerates through the intake
throat.
• Careful deign of the lip region is required to
optimize intake pressure recovery (and
distortion) throughout the flight envelope.
 Flow (boundary layer )separation in
intake
Flow separation can get initiated at three possible locations
1.External to the intake on the nacelle-external
2.Within the diffuser internal surface-internal
3.On the centre body or the hub-internal
• Separation on the nacelle would lead to increase in overall
drag of the aircraft.
• Separation within the diffuser geometry may lead to higher
stagnation pressure losses and therefore lower diffuser
efficiency.
• At high angle of attack all three zones will be subjected to
unusual pressure gradient.
 Possible regions of flow separation
Nacelle, external flow surface
spillage

Leading edge lip

Internal flow annulus, diffuser

 Intake drag
• Parasitic drag is drag that results when an object is moved through a fluid
medium. Parasitic drag is a combination of form drag, skin friction and
interference drag.
Parasitic drag = form drag + skin friction+ interference drag.
Form drag
The drag on an aerofoil which arises from its shape. It varies according to the
angle of attack and can be decreased by streamlining.
Skin friction drag
Drag arises due the viscous effect.
Interference drag
The drag on an aircraft caused by the interaction of two aerodynamic bodies.
Additive drag
It occurs when the area of the free-stream air Ao is different from the
area of the entrance to the inlet A1.
 Supersonic intakes
Internal, external or mixed compression
- Depending upon the location of the shocks
- Internal compression intakes have shocks that are
located within the intake geometry
- External compression intakes have shocks located
outside the intake
-Mixed compression intakes have shock that are
located within as well as outside the intake
geometry.
Supersonic intakes
 Subsonic speed : the waves precede the airplane.

Transonic speed : the airplane reaches the sound of speed (Mach 1).

Supersonic speed : the airplane is ahead of the acoustic waves.

Shock wave formation
Shockwave
 VARIABLE GEOMETRY DUCT
 For very high speed aircraft , the inside area or
configuration of the duct is often changed by mechanical
device the speed of the aircraft increase or decreases. A
duct of this type is known as variable geometry.
 Two methods are commonly used to diffuse the inlet air
and slow the inlet airflow at supersonic flight speed.
 One is to vary the area or geometry of the inlet duct either
by using a movable spike within the duct itself, or by using
some form of movable restriction , such as ramp or wedge,
inside the duct ,variable geometry systems may also
included scoops to increase airflow and spill valves to
prevent turbulence at the face of the engines.
F-15 with its two intake ramps in
different positions
 Supersonic intake performance

 Supersonic diffusers are characterised by the

presence of shocks.
 However before the intake operates in a
supersonic flow, it must pass through the
subsonic flow regime.
 In some types of supersonic intakes, establishing
a shock system with minimal losses is not easy.
 The process of establishing a stable shock system
is referred to as Starting of an intake.
 Condition (a)
• Low subsonic speed operation. Inlet is not
choked.
• The airflow through the inlet and hence the
upstream capture area Aa is determined by
conditions downstream of the inlet.
 Condition (b)
• Low subsonic speed operation. Inlet is choked.
• The inlet mass flow rate is limited by the
choking condition at At
 Condition (c) to (f)
• In condition (c) to (f), the inlet flow velocity is
increased gradually to design Mach No. MD to
position the shock first in front of the inlet,
then in the cowl or inlet lip, then it enters in
the converging part and jumps rapidly to
diverging part.
• When the air intake starts operating in design
Mach No. MD, the shock repositions itself to
the throat nearer to supersonic side.
 MODES OF INLET OPERATION
Subcritical:
At Mach numbers below the design value.
The normal shock occurs ahead of the cowl lip.
High external drag due to spillage.
Supercritical:
Occurs at same mass flow as critical mode
Higher losses as the normal shock occurs in a region of higher Mach number.
Critical:
Design point operation.
The normal shock is located exactly at the cowl lip.
Supersonic intake performance Normal
shock
Normal shock

Supercritical mode
Subcritical mode
Normal shock

Critical mode
 Supersonic intake performance

• Total pressure losses are highest in the case of a

diffuser with a single normal shock.
• A number of oblique shocks followed by a normal
shock would lead to lower total pressure losses.
• Oblique shocks are generated using steps in the
centre body.
• A diffuser with a smoothly contoured centre body
may have infinite oblique shocks: Isentropic
external diffuser.
 FLOW INSTABILITY(buzz)
• Buzz is an airflow instability caused by the shock
waves rapidly being alternately swallowed and
expelled at the inlet of the duct and occurs in
supersonic intakes at subcritical operations.
• It starts when the aircraft begins to fly at or near
the speed of sound. At these speeds sonic shock
waves are developed that if not controlled will
give high duct loss in pressure and airflow and
will set up vibrating conditions in the inlet duct,
called inlet Buzz.
The ratio of flight speed to the exhaust velocity
for maximum propulsive efficiency is________