Control of Severe Shock-Wave/Boundary-Layer Interactions in Hypersonic Inlets

A theoretical analysis and numerical simulations are conducted to demonstrate the control capability of a splitter on the shock-wave/boundary-layer interactions in a generic hypersonic inlet with both a two-staged external compression and a strong cowl compression. The results show that, under the unstart condition, a well-designed splitter could suppress the massive cowl shock-induced separation, increase the fullness of the rampside boundary-layer profile at the isolator exit, and improve the inlet performance over the targeted operating Mach number range. With the splitter design, the severe shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction induced by the strong cowl shock is replaced by several weaker shock-wave/boundary-layer interactions with reduced shock intensity and boundary-layer thickness.