Experimental Surveys for Submerged Inlet
Abstract
The objective of the study is to define the Pareto set of designs for a subsonic submerged inlet that minimizes flow distortion and swirl at the engine face. A series of experimental surveys are performed to validate the accompanying computations and to provide additional information regarding the Pareto set. A stainless steel model with a removable submerged inlet (built using an FDM system) has been fabricated and installed in the Rutgers University subsonic wind tunnel. Boundary layer measurements upstream of the inlet are obtained by a computer-controlled traversing pitot tube. The estimated boundary layer thickness agrees closely with the computed profile. Detailed experiments are focused on the measurement of total pressure three diameters downstream of the exit of the inlet. A rotating multi-element pitot rack is fabricated and installed in the model, which is attached to the suction side of a blower to yield the appropriate mass flow rate through the inlet. Motion control, pressure and temperature data acquisition as well as management of the wind tunnel operations for all experiments are controlled by a LabView program developed at Rutgers University.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- November 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003APS..DFD.JJ001J