Conceptual Study into Wave Ingesting Propulsion for Hypersonic Flight

Conceptual Study into Wave Ingesting Propulsion for Hypersonic Flight

Boundary layer or wake ingesting propulsion systems are gaining increased attention in the design of sub-sonic flight vehicles. They deliver performance gains by re-energising drag processed flow. The high speed flight analogy are wave ingesting propulsion systems, that attempt to manipulate the movement of momentum in order to minimise or eliminate drag.
This work presents a methodology to analyse and visualise the transport of momentum in hypersonic flows and shows how the movement of momentum can be related to total axial force (net drag) or normal force (lift). Results show that drag can be minimise by reflecting x-momentum back onto the vehicle. This approach of drag reduction is demonstrated by analysing the Busemann biplane and by analysing a simple double ramp vehicle. The drag of the double ramp vehicle can be halved by including a reflector to manage wave processes in a beneficial manner.
Finally, two different methods for energy addition in order to re-energise the flow and to eliminate drag are explored. It is shown that concentrating energy addition into a region that amplifies reflection of momentum back onto the vehicle is an effective means to create a vehicle with zero net drag (drag=thrust).

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