INFLUENCE OF THE INLET SHAPE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF DOUBLE OFFSET TRANSITION S-DUCT WITH DIFFUSION

Abstract

Transition S-shaped intake duct is a crucial component of dual engine used in modern combat aircrafts. Present flow investigation demonstrates the flow behavior of double offset transition S-duct for different inlet geometries having circular exit (ϕ = 72.5 mm) and uniform roughness. The inlet geometries namely rectangular, square, elliptical, oval, and semicircular have been analyzed for double offset transition S-duct having 300 mm centerline length and an area ratio of 2.0. Incompressible flow analysis carried out for free stream velocity at 30 m/s with RNG k–ε turbulence model has shown that the elliptical inlet shape gives the best performance whereas square inlet gives the worst performance in terms of longitudinal and cross-flow velocity distribution, pressure recovery, total pressure loss, distortion coefficient, and swirl coefficient at the exit of the duct.