Prediction model for self-starting of hypersonic inlets with soft critical unstart mode

The acceleration self-starting performance of hypersonic inlets is of critical importance for the stable operation of scramjet engines. The occurrence of soft unstart during the transition from hard unstart to start is an important flow state that has yet to be fully elucidated. The stability mechanism and corresponding self-starting characteristics of soft unstart remain poorly understood, and there is a pressing need for detailed modeling research in this area. This paper presents a rapid prediction model for the self-starting Mach number of two-dimensional hypersonic inlets with soft critical unstart mode, fully considering the influence of various geometric parameters and Reynolds number in the internal contraction section, and achieving a quantitative analysis of the two-dimensional soft unstart critical flow field. Given the incoming flow conditions and the inlet geometry, the prediction model is capable of accurately representing the actual viscous unstart flow field. It can fully map the unstart separation bubble and its surrounding critical wave structures, and calculate the minimum pressure rise required to maintain the current scale of the main separation bubble and the pressure rise exerted on the unstart separation bubble by the current actual flow field structure. Comparing the relative magnitude of these two pressures determines whether the inlet can transition from soft unstart to start. The proposed prediction model was validated using results from unsteady numerical simulations. The predicted results align well with the simulation results and are significantly better than previous prediction methods.