Aircraft Propulsion
1
MODULE II INTAKES AND NOZZLES
• Inlets for transport Aircrafts and Military
Aircrafts
• Internal flow and Stall in subsonic intakes
• Major features of external flow near a subsonic
intake
• Relation between minimum area ratio and
external deceleration ratio
• Performance of subsonic intake and diffuser.
Intakes
• Air intakes form the first component of all air
breathing propulsion systems.
• The word Intake is normally used in the UK and
Inlet in the United States.
• Air intakes are usually manufactured by the
airframe manufacturer in coordination with the
engine manufacturer.
• An aircraft may have one or more intakes
depending upon the engine.
• Air intakes are required to capture free stream
air, sometimes change its direction and then
supply this to the engine. This must be with as
little flow distortion (non-uniformity) as
possible.
• The intake must also not result in excessive
external drag to the aircraft.
• Intake must ensure proper operation over the
entire flight regime.
• Modern aircraft intakes also contain noise-
absorbing materials.
Intakes used in transport aircraft are quite different from the
military air intakes.
• All operational transport aircraft are subsonic.
• Subsonic intakes consist of surfaces with
smooth continuous curves. Usually such intakes
have a thick leading edge: lip.
• Intakes of turboprops are slightly more
complicated due to the presence of the
propeller and the gearbox.
Subsonic intakes
• Most subsonic intakes have fixed geometries.
• Some of the high bypass ratio turbofans have
blow-in-doors. These are designed to deliver
additional air to the engine during take-off and
climb.
• This is to cater to the fact that under these
conditions, the engine requires maximum thrust
and hence more mass flow rate of air.
Pitot intakes
• The most common type of a subsonic intake
is the Pitot intake.
• Pitot intakes make the best use of the ram
effect due to forward motion.
• These intakes also suffers the minimum loss
of ram pressure during changes in altitude.
There are three types of Pitot intakes:
– Podded intakes
– Integrated intakes
– Flush intakes
➢Podded intakes are commonly used in transport
aircraft (civil or military).
➢Integrated intakes are used in combat aircraft.
➢Flush intakes are used in missiles.
Podded intakes
• The leading edge of the intake captures a certain
stream tube and then divides this stream into
internal flow and external flow.
• The design to preserves good aerodynamics of
the airframe and an internal flow with minimal
loss
• Friction losses are insignificant.
• Flow separation drastically affect the
performance.
Integrated and Flush intakes
• For integrated intakes, the internal flow
problems are of concern. The duct is usually
longer and with bend(s).
• The aircraft fuselage ahead of the intake feeds a
boundary layer into the intake.
Integrated and Flush intakes
• Curvature of the intake also leads to generation
of secondary flows leading to flow distortion.
• Flush intakes are used in missiles as these can be
easily accommodated into missile airframes as
well as for canister launching.
Supersonic Intakes
• Supersonic intakes are usually more complicated
than subsonic intakes.
• Design of supersonic intakes often involve trade-
offs between efficiency, complexity, weight and
cost.
• Supersonic intakes consists to two segments: a
supersonic diffuser where the flow is decelerated
from supersonic to subsonic through a series of
shocks; this is followed by a subsonic diffuser
where the flow is decelerated from high subsonic
to lower subsonic speeds.
Intake performance
• Intake operation varies tremendously over the
operating range of the engine.
• During take-off the engine requires high mass
flow, but is operating at a lower speed.
• A typical fixed geometry intake may have
problems delivering this mass flow.
• The intake design must ensure that under all
extreme operating conditions too the intake
performance is not drastically affected.
Intake performance
• The performance of the intake must not be
unduly sensitive to pitch and yaw motions of
the aircraft.
• Stagnation pressure loss in the intake be small
• The flow velocity and the direction of air
leaving intake should be uniform – if not
affects compressor performance.
Subsonic intake performance
• The compression in a subsonic intake consists of two
components:
– Pre-entry compression or external compression
– Internal compression or the compression in the diffuser
• Pre-entry compression is always isentropic, whereas internal
compression is not.
• However trying to maximize pre-entry compression may
result in boundary layer separation within the internal
compression.
• Designers try to optimize between external and internal
compression.
• Flow separation can get initiated at three possible locations
– External to the intake on the nacelle
– Within the diffuser internal surface
– On the center body or the hub
• Separation on the nacelle would lead to increase in overall
drag of the aircraft
• Separation within the diffuser geometry may lead to higher
stagnation pressure losses and therefore lower diffuser
efficiency.
• Spillage: Occurs when the incoming stream tube
(capture area) is different from the intake entry
area
– Leads to increased drag
– May also lead to separation on the cowl
• External deceleration (pre-entry compression)
devoid of losses, Sensitive to operating
condition
• Trade-off between external and internal
deceleration
• Performance of intakes are evaluated using
the following:
– Isentropic efficiency
– Stagnation pressure ratio or pressure recovery
– Distortion coefficient