The airflow requirements of a scramjet engine are best met by utilizing the precompression obtained from the vehicle forebody and locating the engine on the underside of the vehicle toward the aft end. The inlet of an air‐breathing engine must collect and process large amounts of air from the atmosphere in order to generate thrust, as this fundamental force is directly proportional to air mass flow rate. Inlets can be classified into three basic types, characterized by the location of the wave system: internal compression, external compression, and mixed compression. For ramjet engines, the inlet efficiency is primarily dependent on the freestream Mach number. In general, a high compression efficiency inlet is one where compression is obtained by a series of isentropic turning and weak shock waves. A scramjet must operate with its inlet started. Starting refers to the initiation of supersonic flow through the inlet duct.
Scramjet Inlet/Forebody and Isolator
Scramjet Propulsion ; 123-163
2022-11-18
41 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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