Design and experimental validation of a specialized pressure-measuring rake for blended wing body aircraft’s unconventional inner flow channel

Abstract

The internal drag of the unconventional inner flow channel of blended wing body aircraft must be measured accurately to correct the air intake effect of the blended wing body flow-through model in wind tunnel tests. In this study, the pressure distribution of the inner flow channel under the interaction of internal and external flows was obtained through numerical simulation. A specialized pressure-measuring rake was designed based on the numerical results, and a validation test was conducted in a 2.4 m × 2.4 m transonic wind tunnel. Compared with the flow in traditional inlets/nozzles, the flow in the unconventional inner channel in the current research is asymmetric, the distortion index is higher, and the internal drag is more sensitive to flow changes. The wind tunnel test results have a good correlation with the numerical results, and the repeatability of the test results is satisfactory, indicating that the measurement accuracy and precision of the pressure-measuring rake are acceptable. The design method of the specialized rake is feasible, and it can be used to guide the measurement of complex flow in unconventional inner flow channels of blended wing body aircraft.