Dengke LI, Bo SUN, Xiong CHEN
DOI Number: N/A
Conference number: HiSST-2025-056
The thermal non-equilibrium caused by the high temperature has significant impacts on the inviscid flows through the hypersonic inlets. However, there is limited research available that provides a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of thermal non-equilibrium on the flows of the inlets with wide design constraints. To explore the thermal non-equilibrium effects within the high Mach number inlets, the inviscid flows obtained by method of non-equilibrium characteristics are compared with the flow calculated under th1e calorically perfect gas (CPG) assumption. The results reveal that the impacts of thermal non-equilibrium on the outlet Mach number and static temperature intensify with the
increasing flight Mach number, compression level and capture height. The relative discrepancies in outlet Mach number and static temperature that induced by thermal non-equilibrium can exceed 10%. Those discrepancies stem from the redistribution of internal energy modes in the thermal non-equilibrium flow. It is found that the discrepancy in outlet static temperature shows a quasi-equal relationship with ev / e at the outlet section, while the discrepancy in outlet Mach number exhibits a power-law correlation with ev / e at the outlet section. Due to the scale effects of thermal non-equilibrium, the discrepancy in outlet Mach number rises from 4% to 10.4% as the capture height increases from 0.125 m to 2 m. The above insights provide valuable reference for the thermal non-equilibrium effects in the inviscid design and evaluation of high Mach number inlet for scramjets and
oblique detonation engines.