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Design and CFD Analysis of Air Intake for Combat Aircraft

Conference Paper · November 2011

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 Symposium on Applied Aerodynamics and Design of Aerospace Vehicle (SAROD 2011)
November 16-18, 2011, Bangalore, India

Design and CFD Analysis of Air Intake for Combat Aircraft

A.Gogoi*, M.B. Angadi', A. Mall', Santosh V Singh!, K.S. Goud*
Aeronautical Development Agency
Post Box 1718, Vimanapura, Bangalore-560017
([email protected])

ABSTRACT
In the present work an S-type fully buried air intake for a twin engine configuration is designed and its
performance is evaluated at different flight conditions using in-house code NUMBERS. The code NUMBERS is a
structured Euler and RANS solver which is validated on the RAE M 2129 S Duct. The inlet is sized to meet various mass
flow requirements of the candidate engine. The cowl and lip are designed to minimize shock losses at supersonic speed
and separation losses at low speeds. The pressure recovery and distortion indices are evaluated for Mach number from
low speeds to high supersonic speeds. Since the aircraft is highly maneuverable flow analysis are also carried out at AOA
varying from 0° to 60°. The pressure recovery for subsonic and transonic speeds is found to acceptable. The distortion
levels are within the limits of the typical fighter engines.
Key Words: Intake, Cowl and lip, Navier-Stokes, Distortion, Pressure Recovery

NOMENCLATURE Flow distortion is a significant parameter to

be considered since it can cause premature engine
Ath = Throat Area surge, asymmetric loading of compressor blades and
AC = Capture Area flow non-uniformity resulting in drastic reduction in
m = Mass flow rate, kg/sec engine thrust.
M∞ = Free stream Mach number In the present work, an air intake is designed
P0ave = Area weighted average total pressure for a combat aircraft. It is designed taking into
P0 = Total pressure consideration the layout and with a constrain of
Re = Reynolds number engine face invisible to intake inlet. The intake
PR = Pressure Recovery geometry is created in CATIA. The grid generation is
AOA = Angle Of Attack, degrees done in IGG of NUMECA and computations are
IDCL = Fan Circumferential Distortion Index carried out with in-house solver NUMBERS. The
IDCC = Compressor Circumferential Distortion performance of the intake in terms of pressure
Index recovery and distortion is estimated using CFD.
IDCR = Fan Circumferential Distortion Index
Gradient
IDR = Radial Distortion Index 2. DESIGN DRIVERS
The design drivers of the air intake for the
1. INTRODUCTION combat aircraft are
A fighter inlet must provide an engine with I. Good Pressure Recovery over entire range of
high-quality airflow over a wide range of speeds, Mach number, Angle of attack and Angle of
altitudes, and maneuvering conditions while sideslip.
accommodating the full range of engine airflow from
idle to maximum military or afterburning power with II. Short length
a high pressure recovery and minimum flow
III. Low Distortion and Swirl
distortion.
IV. Low Radar Cross Section
___________________________________________ V. Low Spillage Drag at Supersonic Speeds
∗
Scientists, Propulsion Systems Directorate, 3. DESIGN METHODOLOGY
Aeronautical Development Agency
The intake exit diameter is chosen to match
'Scientists, AMCA Directorate, Aeronautical the inlet diameter of the engine. The throat area (Ath)
Development Agency of the intake is sized to meet the mass flow
! requirements of the engine and the throat Mach
Junior Research Fellow, Propulsion Systems,
Aeronautical Development Agency

1
2 A.Gogoi, M.B. Angadi, A. Mall, Santosh V Singh, K.S. Goud

number is kept at a reasonable value. The capture

area AC is selected as a compromise between low
spillage drag at supersonic speeds and high mass flow Table 1: Grid Details
rates at low speeds. The cowl and lip are designed to Sl no Grid Description
minimize shock losses at supersonic speed and dimension
separation losses at low speeds. The cowl-lip is 1 17×97×65 Free-stream Block
staggered for the sake of edge-matching with the 2 33×65×65 Free-stream Block
wing. The wall angles and diffusion angles along the 3 33×17×65 Free-stream Block and Inner
length of the duct are kept within limits in order to Block of Cowl-lip
prevent flow separation within the duct. The intake is 4 33×97×65 Outer block of cowl-lip
offset from the fuselage to prevent fuselage boundary
5 33×17×97 Inner Block of Intake
layer ingestion. The duct is curved such that the
6 33×97×97 Outer block of Intake
engine face is completely invisible. The length of the
duct is decided primarily by the location of the
internal stores bay.
4. GEOMETRY MODELING AND GRID
GENERATION
The geometry is modeled using CATIA.
The geometry comprise of the cowl-lip and the duct.
The geometry is shown in figure 1. A number of
configurations were created in order to arrive at
optimum configuration. Study was carried out with
different cowl-lip profiles and different duct
curvatures.

Grid Around Cowl-lip Region

Throat

Duct Exit

Lip

Side View Of Grid

Cowl

Figure 1: Intake Geometry for Combat Aircraft

The grid is generated in software IGG of
NUMECA. The grid is a multi-block one comprising
of six blocks. The grid is shown in figure 2 and had a
total of 802,816 finite volumes. The grid has
desirable feature of clustering towards wall,
orthogonality near wall and smoothness across block
boundaries.
The grid details are shown in Table 1. Top view of Grid

Figure 2: Grid for Combat Aircraft Air Intake

 Design and CFD analysis of Air Intake for Combat Aircraft 3

5. CFD SOFTWARE VALIDATION

The in-house CFD code NUMBERS is used for
evaluating the performance of the intake. The solver
NUMBERS is a structured in-house code which
solves the Euler and the Navier-Stokes equations in
the compressible flow regime. The turbulence models
implemented in the code are Baldwin-Lomax,
Spalart-Allmaras /1/ and Menter SST /2/ models. The
viscous derivatives are calculated by the least –square
method. The equations can be solved by predictor-
corrector MacCormack scheme, central-difference
Jameson scheme /3/ and upwind H-CUSP scheme.
The code NUMERERS is validated on the
RAE M 2129 S Duct. The grid for the RAE M2129 S
duct is shown in figure 3 and had a total size of Menter SST turbulence model
321,600 finite volumes. The inviscid grid available in
internet is used for creating the viscous grid in
software IGG of NUMECA. Both the Menter SST
and Spalart-Allmaras turbulence models are used in
the computations on the RAE M2129 S duct. The
Mach number plot at symmetry plane with the two
turbulence models are shown in figure 4. The Mach
number contour plot show region of flow separation
inside the duct. The comparison of experimental and
CFD wall static pressure plots for three different
generators ( 0o , 90o and 180o) is shown in figure 5. It
can be seen from the figure that agreement between
experimental and CFD data is reasonable.

Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model

Figure 4: Mach Number Contour Plot for RAE M
2129 S Duct

Figure 3: Grid for RAE M2129 S Duct

4 A.Gogoi, M.B. Angadi, A. Mall, Santosh V Singh, K.S. Goud

due to change in duct cross-section and duct

curvature are seen in the figure.

Figure 5: Wall Static Pressure Plot for RAE

M2129 S Duct

6. RESULTS Figure 6: Wall Static Pressure Plot for the intake

The computations on the intake are carried The top view Mach number is shown in
out for Mach number ranging from Very Low figures 7. The variation of Mach number due to
subsonic to very high supersonic. At inflow, total changes in duct cross-section and duct curvature can
pressure and total temperature of 101325 Pa and 303 be seen in figure 7. For low subsonic Mach no ,
K are imposed. At intake exit, the back pressure was flow separation is observed in the cowl-lip region. It
adjusted to obtain the corrected mass flow rate can be seen that flow is highly non-uniform for low
desired by the engine. For low subsonic Mach no, subsonic Mach no. For High supersonic Mach no, a
computations are also carried out at AOA= 15o to strong shock is formed ahead of the intake and shock
evaluate takeoff performance. For subsonic Mach no, induced separation is observed inside the duct. For
computations are carried out for AOA upto 60 o to low subsonic Mach no, it is observed that flow is
evaluate high alpha performance. The Spalart- sucked into the intake while for Transonic Mach no
Allmaras model is used for turbulence and equations onwards a part of the flow is spilled out of the intake.
are solved by Jameson scheme. The Reynolds The top view total pressure plot is shown in
number was based on the exit intake diameter and figure 8. For low subsonic Mach no, significant total
was about 8 million for the computations. pressure loss is observed due to flow separation in the
The wall static pressure plot at four cowl-lip region. For High supersonic Mach no,
generators (Top, Bottom, Inner and Outer) for the significant shock and shock-induced separation loss
combat aircraft intake is shown in figure 6. The is observed in figure. Total pressure losses for
variation of static pressure due to duct curvature can subsonic and transonic Mach no are found to be
be seen from the figure. The static pressure show negligible.
moderate overall flow deceleration along the length
of the duct. Regions of adverse pressure gradients
 Design and CFD analysis of Air Intake for Combat Aircraft 5

Low Subsonic Low Subsonic

Subsonic Subsonic

Transonic Transonic

Supersonic Supersonic
Figure 7: Top View Mach number plot of Intake Figure 8: Top View Total Pressure Plot of Intake
6 A.Gogoi, M.B. Angadi, A. Mall, Santosh V Singh, K.S. Goud

Low Supersonic
Very Low Subsonic

Low Subsonic
Supersonic

High Supersonic
Subsonic

Very High Supersonic

Transonic
Figure 9 : Total Pressure Plot at Duct Exit
 Design and CFD analysis of Air Intake for Combat Aircraft 7

The Total pressure contour plot at the intake duct exit flow rate through the intake meets the engine
for various flight Mach numbers are shown in figure requirements. The distortion (IDCL, IDR) values for
9. It can be seen from the figure that total pressure various cases are shown in figure 11 and it can be
losses are negligible subsonic and transonic free seen that the distortion values are within the tolerable
stream Mach numbers. The total pressure losses are limits of the engine.
found to increase with increase in supersonic Mach
numbers. The total pressure losses are found to be
high at very low speeds. Flow distortion is seen to be
negligible for subsonic and transonic free stream
Mach numbers and quite significant for other free
stream Mach numbers.

7. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
The various parameters used to evaluate
performance of the duct can be described as
1. Pressure Recovery: Pressure
Recovery is defined as
(P0ave )outflow Figure 10 : Pressure Recovery Map of Intake
PR =
(P0 )inf low
Where P0ave is the area weighted average
total pressure and P0 is the total pressure
2. Distortion Parameters:
The following distortion parameters are
followed in the present work:

2.1 Fan Circumferential Distortion Index,

IDCL
2.2 Compressor Circumferential Distortion
Index, IDCC
2.3 Radial Distortion Index, IDR
2.4 Fan Circumferential Distortion Index Figure 11: Distortion Values of Intake
Gradient , IDCR
Since the aircraft is designed for super
These distortion indices are calculated by maneuverability, computations are carried out for
means of a 40-probe rake and are described in detail angle of attack upto 60 degrees at low subsonic Mach
reference /5/. All these performance parameters are no. The streamline plots at AOA of 0°, 30° and 50°
evaluated at duct exit. are shown in figure 12. The flow separation around
the cowl-lip region for AOA of 30° and 50° can be
seen in the figure 12. The variation in pressure
The pressure recovery and distortion indices
recovery with angle-of-attack at low subsonic free
are evaluated for Mach number from low speeds to
stream mach number is shown in figure 13. It is seen
high supersonic speeds. The pressure recovery for
in figure 13 that pressure recovery remains constant
subsonic and transonic speeds is above 98 percent.
upto a particular angle of attack and decreases
The pressure recovery at low speeds is lower which is
beyond a particular angle of attack. The pressure
due flow separation around the thin cowl-lip of the
recovery at 60 degree angle of attack is about 91
intake. The pressure recovery is found to decrease
percent which is reasonable. The reduction in
with increase of supersonic Mach number. This is
pressure recovery at high angle of attack is mainly
due to strong shock formation ahead of the intake at
due to flow separation in the cowl-lip region.
supersonic Mach numbers. The differences in
pressure recovery of the two intakes are quite
prominent. This difference in pressure recovery is
due to change in duct and cowl-lip profiles. The
comparison of pressure recovery map between two
intake geometries can be seen in figure 10.The mass
 8 A.Gogoi, M.B. Angadi, A. Mall, Santosh V Singh, K.S. Goud

M 2129 S duct. The pressure recovery of the intake

and the distortion at intake exit are characterized. The
performance of the intake at high angle of attack is
characterized.

REFERENCES
1. Spalart, P. R. and Allmaras, S.R., “A One-
AOA = 0 degree Equation Turbulence Model for Aerodynamic
Flows”, AIAA Paper 92-0439. 1992.
2. Menter, F. R., AIAA Journal, Vol. 32, No. 8,
August 1994, pp. 1598-1605.
3. A. Jameson, W. Schmidt and E. Turkel
“Numerical Solution of Euler Solution by finite
volume methods with Runge-Kutta time stepping
schemes”, AIAA paper 81-1259, January 1981.
4. NUMECA’s Flow Integrated Environment for
Turbo machinery and Internal Flows, User
AOA = 30 degree Manual, Version 4.1, April 2000.
5. Society of Automotive Engineers Inc, “ Gas
Turbine Engine Inlet Flow Distortion
Guidelines”, Aerospace Recommended Practice
1420, Warrendale, Pensylvania, March 1978.

AOA = 50 degree

Figure 12: Streamline Plot for various AOA at M∞

=0.30

Figure 13: Pressure Recovery Map for M∞=0.30

8. CONCLUSION
An air intake is designed for a combat
aircraft. The performance of the intake is evaluated
using in-house CFD code which is validated on RAE

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