An experimental investigation was performed to understand the development and
suppression of the secondary flow structures within a compact, serpentine jet engine
inlet duct. By employing a variety of flow diagnostic techniques, the formation of a pair
of counter-rotating vortices was revealed. A modular fluidic actuator system that would
apply several different methods of flow control was then designed and manufactured to
improve duct performance. At the two bends of the inlet, conformal flow control
devices were installed to deliver varying degrees of boundary layer suction, suction and
steady fluid injection, and suction and oscillatory injection. Testing showed that suction
alone could delay flow separation and improve the pressure recovery of the duct by as
much as 70%. However, this technique was not able to rid the duct completely of the
nonuniformities that exist at the engine face plane. Suction with steady blowing,
however, increased pressure recovery by 37% and reduced distortion by 41% at the
engine face. Suction with pulsed injection had the least degree of success in suppressing
the secondary flow structures, with improvements in pressure recovery of only 16.5%
and a detrimental impact on distortion. The potential for gains in the aerodynamic
efficiency of serpentine inlets by active flow control was demonstrated in this study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1027 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Kirk, Aaron Michael |
| Contributors | Rediniotis, Othon K. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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