Experimental Investigation of Flow Instability in a Supersonic Inlet

Abstract

An extensive wind tunnel test series were conducted on an axisymmetric supersonic inlet. The model was tested at Mach numbers from 1.8 to 2.2 and at different values of mass flow rate. Shadowgraph flow visualization was used to capture the external shock structure in front of the inlet. The goal of this study is to find out the general characteristics of the inlet buzz. Frequencies of the buzz have been achieved from the analysis of the pressure data as well as the shadowgraph pictures. The amplitude of the shock waves motion has been measured from the visualization pictures too. In the some large value of mass flow rate, the frequency of shock oscillation increased versus Mach number. Also in each Mach number due to the mass flow rate decrement, the buzz frequency decreases and its amplitude increases conversely. Also buzz instability affects the external flow by the same frequency of the internal one.