NASA GLENN RESEARCH CENTER HAS AN INTEREST IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW PROPULSION SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES FOR APP…

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NASA GLENN RESEARCH CENTER HAS AN INTEREST IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW PROPULSION SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES FOR APPLICATION TO FUTURE SUPERSONIC CRUISE CIVIL AIRCRAFT. IN ORDER TO BE ECONOMICALLY VIABLE, SUCH AIRCRAFT NEED TO ACHIEVE UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS OF CRUISE EFFICIENCY, WHILE ALSO MEETING STRINGENT AIRPORT NOISE REQUIREMENTS AT TAKEOFF AND LANDING AND MINIMIZING THE AIRCRAFT S SONIC BOOM SIGNATURE. THE PROPULSION SYSTEM MUST BE DESIGNED AS AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM AND INSTALLED IN AN OPTIMAL WAY ON THE AIRFRAME. THE SUPERSONIC INLET IS A CRITICAL COMPONENT OF AN EFFICIENT SUPERSONIC CRUISE PROPULSION SYSTEM. THE INLET DESIGNER MUST CONSIDER THE ENTIRE PROPULSION SYSTEM AND AIRCRAFT INTEGRATION STRATEGY TO DEVELOP AN INLET THAT NOT ONLY ACHIEVES HIGH PERFORMANCE AT CRUISE CONDITIONS, BUT ALSO MAINTAINS STABILITY AND OPERABILITY THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE FLIGHT ENVELOPE, FROM TAKEOFF TO CRUISE TO LANDING. INLET PERFORMANCE METRICS INCLUDE TOTAL PRESSURE RECOVERY AND AMOUNT AND DISTORTION LEVELS OF MASS-FLOW DELIVERED TO THE ENGINE. OPERABILITY CONSIDERATIONS INCLUDE TERMINAL SHOCK STABILITY (FOR MIXED-COMPRESSION INLETS), BUZZ RESISTANCE, AND TOLERANCE TO CHANGES IN ANGLE-OF-ATTACK AND MACH NUMBER. SATISFYING EACH OF THESE REQUIREMENTS NECESSITATES THE INTEGRATION OF VARIABLE GEOMETRY, STABILITY BLEED, OVERBOARD BYPASS, AND INLET CONTROL SYSTEMS. IN ADDITION, THE FINAL CONFIGURATION MUST INTEGRATE WITH THE AIRFRAME IN SUCH A WAY AS TO MINIMIZE THE SONIC BOOM SIGNATURE OF THE OVERALL AIRCRAFT. NEW TECHNOLOGIES ARE EMERGING THAT MAY HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS ON THE DESIGN OF FUTURE SUPERSONIC INLETS. TECHLAND RESEARCH, INC. HAS BEEN CENTRAL TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOME OF THESE. NASA GRC HAS AN INTEREST IN FUNDING TECHLAND TO HELP GUIDE THE DEVELOPMENT OF TWO OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES THROUGH TEST DEMONSTRATION. BACKGROUND TECHLAND RESEARCH, INC. AERODYNAMICALLY DESIGNED, ANALYZED, AND FABRICATED RESEARCH HARDWARE FOR A PATENTED AXISYMMETRIC INLET CONCEPT UNDER PHASE I AND PHASE II SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATIVE RESEARCH (SBIR) CONTRACTS (NAS3-98041, NAS4-00011, AND NAS4-01031). THE FIRST SBIR CONTRACT (WITH NASA GLENN RESEARCH CENTER) WAS A DESIGN AND FEASIBILITY STUDY THAT DEMONSTRATED THE POTENTIAL ADVANTAGES OF A UNIQUE AXISYMMETRIC INLET CONCEPT OVER STATE-OF-THE-ART INLET CONFIGURATIONS TYPICALLY IDENTIFIED FOR SUPERSONIC TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT APPLICATIONS. THE MIXED-COMPRESSION INLET CONCEPT WAS UNIQUE IN ITS UTILIZATION OF AN INNOVATIVE VARIABLE GEOMETRY SYSTEM TO FACILITATE ENGINE AIRFLOW MATCHING AT OFF-DESIGN FLIGHT CONDITIONS. THE TRANSLATING CHANNELED CENTERBODY (TCCB) CONCEPT PROVIDES FOR THE OPENING OF LONGITUDINAL CHANNELS IN THE CENTERBODY WITH CENTERBODY TRANSLATION. THE VARIABLE GEOMETRY IS RELATIVELY SIMPLE TO EFFECT, REQUIRING NO ADDITIONAL ACTUATION SYSTEMS, AND OFFERS EQUIVALENT LEVELS OF INLET STABILITY AND OPERABILITY AS CONCEPTS WITH SIGNIFICANTLY MORE COMPLEX VARIABLE GEOMETRY SCHEMES, SUCH AS THE VARIABLE DIAMETER CENTERBODY (VDC). THE NASA DFRC PHASE I AND PHASE II SBIR EFFORTS FOCUSED ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN AERODYNAMIC DESIGN THAT, WHEN OPERATED AT OFF-DESIGN (MACH 1.5) CONDITIONS, WOULD SUPPLY AIRFLOW TO A DFRC-DESIGNED DUCTED ROCKET ENGINE IN SUPPORT OF ROCKET-BASED COMBINED CYCLE (RBCC) RESEARCH. THE INLET AND ENGINE HARDWARE WERE TO BE TESTED ON THE F-15B PROPULSION FLIGHT TEST FACILITY (PFTF). TWO INLET CONFIGURATIONS WERE DESIGNED: ONE WHICH REPRESENTED THE CHANNELED CENTERBODY CONFIGURATION TO PROVIDE INCREASED AIRFLOW AT LOW-SUPERSONIC MACH NUMBER CONDITIONS, AND A SMOOTH CENTERBODY CONFIGURATION WITH AN EQUIVALENT AREA DISTRIBUTION TO THAT OF THE CHANNELED CONFIGURATION. THE EFFORT INCLUDED 3-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS (CFD) ANALYSES OF BOTH THE SMOOTH AND CHANNELED CENTERBODY CONFIGURATIONS AT FREESTREAM MACH NUMBERS OF 1.5 AND 1.7, AND AT SEVERAL INLET BACKPRESSURES (REPRESENTING SEVERAL ENGINE AIRFLOW CONDITIONS). TECHLAND FABRICATED INLET MODEL HARDWARE PER ME