Progress in Hypersonic Inlet Flow Controls by Magnetohydrodynamic

Abstract

The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow control techniques for inlet based on “AJAX” vehicle concept have attracted many researchers’ attention for its potential wide applications in the supersonic flights or the hypersonic ones. In this paper, a preliminary discussion for basic problems that are ionization and magnetic field in the MHD applications is presented. And three major MHD techniques for enhancing inlet aerodynamic performance and operability, which are large scale flow control for enlarging flight scope in Mach/angle-of-attack, near surface flow control for shock wave/boundary layer interaction and leading edge heating-transfer control for enormous thermal load on leading edge of the compression ramp, are briefly explained and reviewed.