Experimental Study of Aeroelastic Response and Performance of a Hypersonic Intake Ramp

What is it about?

Hypersonic vehicle components are subjected to large pressure and thermal loads. The structural design of the vehicle should ensure that the components can withstand these loads, while also ensuring an optimally low component weight and efficiency. This requires that we undestand how the vehicle components will bahave under any aeroelastic deformation. The current paper investigates the effect the aeroelastic deformation of a hypersonic vehicle intake can have on its performance. We investigate these effects experimentally, and analyse the dynamic coupling between the the flow and the structure of the aeroelastic intake. Such a study allows us to understand how critical these effects can be, and potentially informs the structural design of the real intakes.

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