Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Supersonic combustion ramjet engines'

Il mio lavoro di tesi è stato incentrato sulla progettazione e la realizzazione di un prototipo di isolator (componente necessaria per il funzionamento dei motori scramjet, utilizzati per velivoli aerospaziali ipersonici) in grado di generare tramite un opportuno dispositivo il meccanismo fluidodinamico che in letteratura viene definito "distortion mechanism". Tramite la tecnica fotografica denominata Schlieren, la quale sfrutta i gradienti di densità all’interno del fluido in esame, ho fotografato le onde di shock generate dal meccanismo suddetto, rendendo così possibile la comprensione del comportamento di queste onde e delle loro interazioni con il boundary layer, con le pareti, ma soprattutto dell’influenza che esse hanno sulle prestazioni di un eventuale propulsore. Da qui è partita una analisi sulle interazioni shock-shock e shock-boundary layer: quest’ultimo fenomeno è di grande interesse in quanto si è notato che non solo viene attivato un meccanismo di distorsione dell’onda stessa, ma che addirittura si manifesta la separazione dello strato limite, generando complessi fenomeni fluidodinamici e termodinamici i quali decrementano l’efficienza non solo dell’isolator bensì del motore stesso.È stato infine previsto come le onde di shock che si propagavano nell’isolator avrebbero potuto affliggere il mixing e la combustione nell’ultimo stage del prototipo, evidenziando le conseguenze che avrebbero generato sull’efficienza generale del ciclo termodinamico. Per concludere il mio lavoro di tesi ho sviluppato alcuni tools in ambiente Matlab utili per poter calcolare le proprietà termodinamiche di un fluido che entra in un inlet di uno scramjet. Per motivi di complessità del problema e per la non assoluta certezza dei fenomeni fluidodinamici e termodinamici che realmente accadono in questi motori (in 3-D), le equazioni utilizzate all’interno del codice sono utili per un’analisi di un fluido quasi monodimensionale.

Supersonic inlet starting by mass spillage is studied theoretically and numerically in the present thesis. A quasi-one-dimensional, quasi-steady theory is developed for the analysis of flow inside a perforated inlet. The theory results in closed-form relations applicable to flow starting by the mass spillage technique in supersonic and hypersonic inlets.
The theory involves three parameters to incorporate the multi-dimensional nature of mass spillage through a wall perforation. Mass spillage through an individual slot is studied to determine these parameters; analytical expressions for these parameters are derived for both subsonic and supersonic flow conditions. In the case of mass spillage from supersonic flows, the relations are exact. However, due to the complexity of flow field, the theory is an approximation for subsonic flows. Therefore, a correction factor is introduced which is determined from an empirical relation obtained from numerical simulations.
A methodology is also proposed to determine perforation size and distribution to achieve flow starting for a given inlet at a desired free-stream Mach number. The problem of shock stability inside a perforated inlet designed with the proposed method is also discussed.
The method is demonstrated for some test cases. Time-realistic CFD simulations and experimental results in the literature confirm the accuracy of the theory and the reliability of the proposed design methodology.

This work evaluates the capabilities of the RANS and LES techniques for the simulation of high speed reacting flows. These methods are used to gain further insight into the physics encountered and regimes present in supersonic combustion. The target application of this research is the scramjet engine, a propulsion system of great promise for efficient hypersonic flight. In order to conduct this work a new highly parallelised code, PULSAR, is developed. PULSAR is capable of simulating complex chemistry combustion in highly compressible flows, based on a second order upwind method to provide a monotonic solution in the presence of high gradient physics. Through the simulation of a non-reacting supersonic coaxial helium jet the RANS method is shown to be sensitive to constants involved in the modelling process. The LES technique is more computationally demanding but is shown to be much less sensitive to these model parameters. Nevertheless, LES results are shown to be sensitive to the nature of turbulence at the inflow; however this information can be experimentally obtained. The SCHOLAR test case is used to validate the reacting aspects of PULSAR. Comparing RANS results from laminar chemistry and assumed PDF combustion model simulations, the influence of turbulence-chemistry interactions in supersonic combustion is shown to be small. In the presence of reactions, the RANS results are sensitive to inflow turbulence, due to its influence on mixing. From complex chemistry simulations the combustion behaviour is evaluated to sit between the flamelet and distributed reaction regimes. LES results allow an evaluation of the physics involved, with a pair of coherent vortices identified as the dominant influence on mixing for the oblique wall fuel injection method. It is shown that inflow turbulence has a significant impact on the behaviour of these vortices and hence it is vital for turbulence intensities and length scales to be measured by experimentalists, in order for accurate simulations to be possible.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009.
Committee Chair: Menon Suresh; Committee Co-Chair: Jagoda Jeff; Committee Member: Ruffin Stephen; Committee Member: Thorsten Stoesser; Committee Member: Walker Mitchell. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2003.
Thesis advisor(s): Garth V. Hobson, Raymond P. Shreeve. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-82). Also available online.

In this thesis, a simple moving boundary technique has been suggested, implemented and verified. The technique may be considered as a generalization of the well-known "ghost" cell approach for boundary condition implementation. According to the proposed idea, the moving body does not appear on the computational grid and is allowed to move over the grid. The impermeable wall boundary condition is enforced by assigning proper gasdynamic values at the grid nodes located inside the moving body close to its boundaries (ghost nodes). The reflection principle taking into account the velocity of the boundaries assigns values at the ghost nodes. The new method does not impose any particular restrictions on the geometry, deformation and law of motion of the moving body.
The developed technique is rather general and can be used with virtually any finite-volume or finite-difference scheme, since the modifications of the schemes themselves are not required. In the present study the proposed technique has been incorporated into a one-dimensional non-adaptive Euler code and a two-dimensional locally adaptive unstructured Euler code.
It is shown that the new approach is conservative with the order of approximation near the moving boundaries. To reduce the conservation error, it is beneficial to use the method in conjunction with local grid adaptation.
The technique is verified for a number of one and two dimensional test cases with analytical solutions. It is applied to the problem of supersonic inlet starting via variable geometry approach. At first, a classical starting technique of changing exit area by a moving wedge is numerically simulated. Then, the feasibility of some novel ideas such as a collapsing frontal body and "tractor-rocket" are explored.

The main scope of this project was to determine if a plasma torch could operate on pure hydrocarbon feedstocks and, if so, to catalogue the torch operational characteristics. The future goal of the project is to design a plasma torch for supersonic combustion applications that operates off of the vehicle main fuel supply to simplify onboard fuel systems. Experiments were conducted with argon, methane, ethylene and propylene. Spectrographic tests and tests designed to catalogue current/voltage characteristics, plasma jet phenomena, arc stability dependencies, electrode erosion rate and torch body temperature were performed. Spectrographic analysis of the plasma jet exhaust confirmed the presence of combustion-enhancing radicals for each hydrocarbon gas tested. Also, it was discovered that simple hydrocarbon gases, such as methane, produced smooth torch operation, while even slightly more complex gases, ethylene and propylene, caused unsteady performance. Plasma jet oscillation was found to be related to the voltage waveform of the power supplies, indicating that plasma jet length and oscillation rate could be controlled by changing the input voltage. The plasma torch for this study was proven to have the capability of operating with pure hydrocarbon feedstocks and producing radicals that are known to reduce combustion reaction rate times. The torch was demonstrated to have potential for use in supersonic combustion applications.
Master of Science

One of the current goals of research in hypersonic, airbreathing propulsion is access to higher Mach numbers. A strong driver of this goal is the desire to integrate a scramjet engine into a transatmospheric vehicle airframe in order to improve performance to low Earth orbit (LEO) or the performance of a semi-global transport. An engine concept designed to access hypervelocity speeds in excess of Mach 10 is the shock-induced combustion ramjet (i.e. shcramjet). This dissertation presents numerical studies simulating the physics of a shcramjet vehicle traveling at hypervelocity speeds with the goal of understanding the physics of fuel injection, wall autoignition mitigation, and combustion instability in this flow regime. This research presents several unique contributions to the literature. First, different classes of injection are compared at the same flow conditions to evaluate their suitability for forebody injection. A novel comparison methodology is presented that allows for a technically defensible means of identifying outperforming concepts. Second, potential wall cooling schemes are identified and simulated in a parametric manner in order to identify promising autoignition mitigation methods. Finally, the presence of instabilities in the shock-induced combustion zone of the flowpath are assessed and the analysis of fundamental physics of blunt-body premixed, shock-induced combustion is accelerated through the reformulation of the Navier Stokes equations into a rapid analysis framework. The usefulness of such a framework for conducting parametric studies is demonstrated.

To advance the design of hypersonic vehicles, high-fidelity multi-physics CFD is used to characterize 3-D scramjet flow-fields in two novel streamline traced configurations. The two inlets, Jaws and Scoop, are analyzed and compared to a traditional rectangular inlet used as a baseline for on/off-design conditions. The flight trajectory conditions selected are Mach 6 and a dynamic pressure of 1,500 psf (71.82 kPa). Analysis of these hypersonic inlets is performed to investigate distortion effects downstream with multiple single cavity combustors acting as flame holders, and several fuel injection strategies. The best integrated scramjet inlet/combustor design is identified. The flow physics is investigated and the integrated performance impact of the two innovative scramjet inlet designs is quantified. Frozen and finite rate chemistry is simulated with 13 gaseous species and 20 reactions for an Ethylene/air finite-rate chemical model. In addition, URANS and LES modeling are compared to explore overall flow structure and to contrast individual numerical methods. The flow distortion in Jaws and Scoop is similar to some of the distortion in the traditional rectangular inlet, despite design differences. The baseline and Jaws performance attributes are stronger than Scoop, but Jaws accomplishes this while eradicating the cowl lip interaction, and lessening the total drag and spillage penalties. The innovative inlets work best on-design, whereas for off-design, the traditional inlet is best. Early pressure losses and flow distortions in the isolator aid the mixing of air and fuel, and improve the overall efficiency of the system. Although the trends observed with and without chemical reactions are similar, the former yields roughly 10% higher mixing efficiency and upstream reactions are present. These show a significant impact on downstream development. Unsteadiness in the combustor increases the mixing efficiency, varying the flame anchoring and combustion pressure effects upstream of the step.

碩士
淡江大學
機械工程研究所
78
Supersonic Combustion Ramjet (SCRAMJET) engine shall be the primary propulsion system for aerospace airplanes in the future and be the latest airbreathing engine. This thesis is to make cycle analysis of each of its components and to make some modification of individual component analysis from the thesis proposed by 0' Yang[17]. Finally, it makes analytical processes of components to be more completely corresponding to one-dimensional integral approach. This thesis takes the theory of a unified cycle analysis and discusses the performance of the SCRAMJET engine. The combining relations of SCRAMJET engine and integral-airframe of aerospace plane is also be concerned. The profile of specific impluse with respect to flight mach number is satisfactory from the analysis of this study. Also, it proves the excellence of the SCRAMJET engine.

Hypersonic air-breathing cruise vehicles powered by supersonic combustion ramjet engines are the potential candidate for future space and defense applications. The air intake of the scramjet engine is a vital component that uses shock waves to compress the air to pressure and temperatures suitable for supersonic combustion. Understanding the unstart dynamics of such intakes is of prime importance for the seamless operation of scramjet intakes. While the unstart dynamics in supersonic intakes are studied widely by various researchers, only a few such studies are reported in hypersonic intakes. The mechanisms associated with the same are not clearly understood. In the current work, a design optimization framework is established by coupling (a) oblique-shock theory and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) and (b) Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and NSGA - II to minimize total pressure loss and maximize intake exit temperature of planar mixed compression intake at a design Mach number of 6. The ramp and cowl angles constitute the design space. The intake with maximum exit temperature is chosen to study its unstart dynamics using a combination of experiments in a hypersonic wind tunnel (M = 6 and Re = 8.86 × 106/m) and unsteady numerical investigations using the open-source suite SU2. The intake model is equipped with a movable cowl and flap to study the internal contraction and throttling induced unstart. Simultaneous pressure measurements and schlieren flow visualization are carried out to study unsteady flow physics associated with intake unstart. The dynamic content in the flow is analyzed using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and spectrogram of the unsteady pressure signal and Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) of the schlieren images and density contours. In this work, two different modes of shock oscillation during unstart are observed when the flap is moved while the cowl is held stationary. At ICR = 1.19, the intake shows started behavior for throttling ratio up to 0.31, and a dual behavior, where it remains started in dynamic flap runs but unstarted in fixed flap runs for throttling ratios of 0.35 and 0.42. The intake exhibits a staged evolution to a large amplitude oscillatory unstart for throttling ratios of 0.55 and 0.69, with frequencies of 950 and 1100 Hz, respectively. A staged evolution (5 stages) to a subsonic spillage oscillatory unstart is detailed using corroborative evidence from both time-resolved schlieren and pressure measurements. The ramp side separation bubble drives the high amplitude oscillatory unstart. At ICR = 1.37, the shear layer emanating from the triple point of shock interaction drives the low amplitude oscillatory unstart with a dominant frequency of about 3.7 kHz for a throttling ratio of 0.69. A criterion for demarcating the modes of unstart is evolved using current and previous data. The actual shock on lip condition during started operation demarcates the two modes of oscillatory unstart. Unsteady numerical computations are performed to study the effect of enthalpy on the unstart frequency. The frequency of unstart varies linearly with stagnation acoustic speed and is an appropriate velocity scale. During unstart, the extent of the subsonic region is the appropriate length scale to be used in the quarter-wave resonance model to estimate unstart frequency pertaining to high mechanical blockage

The purpose of this research was to determine if it is feasible to apply Lorentz mixing to supersonic diffusion flames, such as those found in SCRAMjet engines. The combustion rate in supersonic diffusion flames is limited by the rate at which air and fuel mix. Lorentz mixing increases turbulence within a flow, which increases the rate at which species mix and thus increases the rate of combustion. In order to determine the feasibility of Lorentz mixing for this application, a two-dimensional model of supersonic reacting flow with the application of a Lorentz force has been examined numerically. The flow model includes the complete Navier-Stokes equations, the ideal gas law, and terms to account for diffusion of chemical species, heat release due to chemical reaction, change in species density due to chemical reaction, and the Lorentz forces applied during Lorentz mixing. In addition, the Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model is used to approximate turbulent transport properties. A FORTRAN program using the MacCormack method, a commonly used computational fluid dynamics algorithm, was used to solve the governing equations. The accuracy of the program was verified by using the program to model flows with known solutions. Results were obtained for flows with Lorentz forces applied over a series of power levels and frequencies. The results show significant increases in the rate of combustion when Lorentz mixing is applied. The amount of power required to drive Lorentz mixing is small relative to the rate at which energy is released in the chemical reaction. An optimum frequency at which to apply Lorentz mixing was also found for the flow being considered. The results of the current study show that Lorentz mixing looks promising for increasing combustion rates in supersonic reacting flows, and that future study is warranted. In particular, researchers attempting to improve combustion in SCRAMjet engines may want to consider Lorentz mixing as a way to improve combustion.
Graduation date: 1997

One of the major technological innovations that are necessary for faster and cheaper access-to-space will be the commercial realization of supersonic combustion jet engines (SCRAMJET). The establishment of the flow through the inlet is one the prime requirement for the success of a SCRAMJET engine. The flow through a SCRAMJET inlet is dominated by inviscid /viscous coupling, transition, shock-shock interaction, shock boundary layer interaction, blunt leading edge effects and flow profile effects. Although the literature is exhaustive on various aspects of flow features associated with SCRAMJET engines, very little is known on the fundamental gasdynamic features dictating the flow establishment in the SCRAMJET inlet. On one hand we need the reduction of flight Mach number to manageable supersonic values inside the SCRAMJET combustor, but on the other hand we have to achieve this with minimum total pressure loss. Hence the dynamics of ramp/cowl shock interaction process ahead of the inlet has a direct bearing on the quality and type of flow inside the SCRAMJET engine. There is virtually no data base in the open literature focusing specifically on the cowl/ramp shock interactions at hypersonic Mach numbers. Hence in this backdrop, the main aim of the present investigation is to systematically understand the ramp/cowl shock interaction processes in front of a generic inlet model. Since we are primarily concerned with the shock interaction process ahead of the cowl all the investigations are carried out without any fuel injection. Variable geometry is necessary if we want to operate the inlet for a wide range of Mach numbers in actual flight. The investigation mainly comprises of three variable geometry configurations; namely, variation of contraction ratios at 00 cowl (CR 8.4, 5.0 and 4.3), variation of cowl length for a given chamber height (four lengths of cowls at 10 mm chamber height) and variation of cowl angle (three angles cowl each for two chamber heights). The change in cowl configuration results in different ramp/cowl shock interaction processes affecting the performance of the inlet. Experiments are performed in IISc hypersonic shock tunnel HST 2 (test time ~ 1 ms) at two nominal Mach numbers 8.0 and 5.74 for design and off-design testing conditions. Exhaustive numerical simulations are also performed to compliment the experiments. Further the effect of concentrated energy deposition on forebody /cowl shock interactions has also been investigated. A 2D, planar, single ramp scramjet inlet model has been designed and fabricated along with various cowl geometries and tested in a hypersonic shock tunnel to characterize the forebody/cowl shock interaction process for different inlet configurations. Further a DC plasma power unit and a plasma torch have been designed, developed and fabricated to serve as energy source for conducting flow-alteration experiments in the inlet model. The V-I characteristics of the plasma torch is studied and an estimation of plasma temperature is also performed as a part of characterizing the plasma flame. Initial standardization experiments of blunt body flow field alteration using the plasma torch and hence its drag reduction, are performed to check the torch’s suitability to be used as a flow-altering device in a shock tunnel. The plasma torch is integrated successfully with the inlet model in a shock tunnel to perform experiments with plasma jet as the energy source. The above experiments are first of its kind to be conducted in a shock tunnel. They are performed at various pressure ratios and supply currents. Time resolved schlieren flow visualization using Phantom 7.1 (Ms Vision Research USA) high speed camera, surface static pressure measurements inside a generic inlet using miniature kulite transducer and surface convective heat transfer rate measurements inside a generic inlet using platinum thin film sensors deposited on Macor substrate are some of the shock tunnel flow diagnostics that have been used in this study. Some of the important conclusions from the study are: • Experiments performed at different contraction ratios show different shock patterns. At CR 8.4, the SOL condition is satisfied, but the flow gets choked due to over contraction and flow through inlet is not established. For CR 5.0, formation of a small Mach stem before the chamber is observed with the reflection point on the cowl and the weak reflected shock entering inside the chamber. The Mach stem grows with time. For CR 4.3, the forebody/cowl shock interference created an Edney’s Type II shock interaction pattern. However, at off-design conditions, for CR 5 the shock reflection is regular and at CR 4.3, the Edney’s Type II pattern lasts for a short time. • For all lengths of cowl tested, 131mm and 141mm showed Edney’s Type II shock interference where as 151mm showed Edney’s Type I pattern at design condition. In all cases the flow is choked for high contraction ratio. At off-design condition these shock patterns do not last for the entire test time but rather it becomes a lambda pattern with the normal shock before the inlet. • For inlet configurations with cowl angle other than 00, the flow is found to be established for all cases at designed condition and except for 100 cowl at off-design condition. • For CR 8.4 the peak value of pressure (~1.7x104 Pa) occurs at a location of 151mm, where as for CR 5.0 and 4.3 they occur at 188mm and 206mm having values ~1.6x104 Pa and ~1.4x104 Pa respectively. These locations indicate the likely locations of shock impingements inside the chamber. • For cowl angle of 00 for a 10 mm chamber the maximum pressure value recorded is ~1.7x104 Pa whereas for 100 and 200 cowl it is ~1.1x104 Pa and 1.2 x104 Pa respectively. This is because in the first case the inlet is choked because of over contraction whereas in the other two cases the CR is less and flow is established inside the inlet. • The average heat transfer rates of last four heat transfer gauges (180 mm, 190 mm, 200 mm and 210 mm from the forebody tip) for all lengths of cowls tested are found to be almost same (~ 20 W/cm2). This is because the flow is choked in all these cases. The numerical simulation also shows uniform distribution here, consistent with the experimental findings. • The locations of heat transfer peaks for 100 cowl at design condition can be observed to be occurring at 170 mm and 200 mm from the forebody tip having values ~44 W/cm2 and ~39 W/cm2 respectively. For a 200 cowl they seem to be occurring at 170 mm and 180 mm from the forebody tip having values ~50 W/cm2 and ~30 W/cm2. These locations indicate the likely locations of shock impingements inside the chamber. With the evolution of concept of upstream fuel injection in recent times these may the most appropriate locations for fuel injection. • At higher jet pressure ratios the plasma jet/ramp shock interaction results in a lambda shock pattern with the triple point forming vertically above the cowl level. This means the normal shock stands in front of the inlet making a part of the flow entering the inlet subsonic. The reflected shock from the triple point also separates the ramp boundary layer. • At lower jet pressure ratios the triple point is formed below the cowl level and the flow entering inside the inlet is supersonic. The reflected shock interacts with the cowl shock and a weak separation shock is seen. • Experiments are performed with concentrated DC electric discharge as energy source. Even though the amount of energy dumped here is less than 0.25% of the total energy it creates a perceptible disturbance in the flow. • Experiments are also performed to see the effect of electric discharge as energy source on height of Mach stem for a given inlet configuration. Deposition of energy in the present location does not seem to alter the Mach stem height. However more experiments need to be performed by varying the energy location to see its effect. Non-intrusive energy sources like microwave and lasers can be thought of as options for depositing energy to study its effect on Mach stem height. Since they provide more flexibility on varying the location of energy the optimum location of energy can be found out for highest reduction of Mach stem height.

One of the major technological innovations that are necessary for faster and cheaper access-to-space will be the commercial realization of supersonic combustion jet engines (SCRAMJET). The establishment of the flow through the inlet is one the prime requirement for the success of a SCRAMJET engine. The flow through a SCRAMJET inlet is dominated by inviscid /viscous coupling, transition, shock-shock interaction, shock boundary layer interaction, blunt leading edge effects and flow profile effects. Although the literature is exhaustive on various aspects of flow features associated with SCRAMJET engines, very little is known on the fundamental gasdynamic features dictating the flow establishment in the SCRAMJET inlet. On one hand we need the reduction of flight Mach number to manageable supersonic values inside the SCRAMJET combustor, but on the other hand we have to achieve this with minimum total pressure loss. Hence the dynamics of ramp/cowl shock interaction process ahead of the inlet has a direct bearing on the quality and type of flow inside the SCRAMJET engine. There is virtually no data base in the open literature focusing specifically on the cowl/ramp shock interactions at hypersonic Mach numbers. Hence in this backdrop, the main aim of the present investigation is to systematically understand the ramp/cowl shock interaction processes in front of a generic inlet model. Since we are primarily concerned with the shock interaction process ahead of the cowl all the investigations are carried out without any fuel injection. Variable geometry is necessary if we want to operate the inlet for a wide range of Mach numbers in actual flight. The investigation mainly comprises of three variable geometry configurations; namely, variation of contraction ratios at 00 cowl (CR 8.4, 5.0 and 4.3), variation of cowl length for a given chamber height (four lengths of cowls at 10 mm chamber height) and variation of cowl angle (three angles cowl each for two chamber heights). The change in cowl configuration results in different ramp/cowl shock interaction processes affecting the performance of the inlet. Experiments are performed in IISc hypersonic shock tunnel HST 2 (test time ~ 1 ms) at two nominal Mach numbers 8.0 and 5.74 for design and off-design testing conditions. Exhaustive numerical simulations are also performed to compliment the experiments. Further the effect of concentrated energy deposition on forebody /cowl shock interactions has also been investigated. A 2D, planar, single ramp scramjet inlet model has been designed and fabricated along with various cowl geometries and tested in a hypersonic shock tunnel to characterize the forebody/cowl shock interaction process for different inlet configurations. Further a DC plasma power unit and a plasma torch have been designed, developed and fabricated to serve as energy source for conducting flow-alteration experiments in the inlet model. The V-I characteristics of the plasma torch is studied and an estimation of plasma temperature is also performed as a part of characterizing the plasma flame. Initial standardization experiments of blunt body flow field alteration using the plasma torch and hence its drag reduction, are performed to check the torch’s suitability to be used as a flow-altering device in a shock tunnel. The plasma torch is integrated successfully with the inlet model in a shock tunnel to perform experiments with plasma jet as the energy source. The above experiments are first of its kind to be conducted in a shock tunnel. They are performed at various pressure ratios and supply currents. Time resolved schlieren flow visualization using Phantom 7.1 (Ms Vision Research USA) high speed camera, surface static pressure measurements inside a generic inlet using miniature kulite transducer and surface convective heat transfer rate measurements inside a generic inlet using platinum thin film sensors deposited on Macor substrate are some of the shock tunnel flow diagnostics that have been used in this study. Some of the important conclusions from the study are: • Experiments performed at different contraction ratios show different shock patterns. At CR 8.4, the SOL condition is satisfied, but the flow gets choked due to over contraction and flow through inlet is not established. For CR 5.0, formation of a small Mach stem before the chamber is observed with the reflection point on the cowl and the weak reflected shock entering inside the chamber. The Mach stem grows with time. For CR 4.3, the forebody/cowl shock interference created an Edney’s Type II shock interaction pattern. However, at off-design conditions, for CR 5 the shock reflection is regular and at CR 4.3, the Edney’s Type II pattern lasts for a short time. • For all lengths of cowl tested, 131mm and 141mm showed Edney’s Type II shock interference where as 151mm showed Edney’s Type I pattern at design condition. In all cases the flow is choked for high contraction ratio. At off-design condition these shock patterns do not last for the entire test time but rather it becomes a lambda pattern with the normal shock before the inlet. • For inlet configurations with cowl angle other than 00, the flow is found to be established for all cases at designed condition and except for 100 cowl at off-design condition. • For CR 8.4 the peak value of pressure (~1.7x104 Pa) occurs at a location of 151mm, where as for CR 5.0 and 4.3 they occur at 188mm and 206mm having values ~1.6x104 Pa and ~1.4x104 Pa respectively. These locations indicate the likely locations of shock impingements inside the chamber. • For cowl angle of 00 for a 10 mm chamber the maximum pressure value recorded is ~1.7x104 Pa whereas for 100 and 200 cowl it is ~1.1x104 Pa and 1.2 x104 Pa respectively. This is because in the first case the inlet is choked because of over contraction whereas in the other two cases the CR is less and flow is established inside the inlet. • The average heat transfer rates of last four heat transfer gauges (180 mm, 190 mm, 200 mm and 210 mm from the forebody tip) for all lengths of cowls tested are found to be almost same (~ 20 W/cm2). This is because the flow is choked in all these cases. The numerical simulation also shows uniform distribution here, consistent with the experimental findings. • The locations of heat transfer peaks for 100 cowl at design condition can be observed to be occurring at 170 mm and 200 mm from the forebody tip having values ~44 W/cm2 and ~39 W/cm2 respectively. For a 200 cowl they seem to be occurring at 170 mm and 180 mm from the forebody tip having values ~50 W/cm2 and ~30 W/cm2. These locations indicate the likely locations of shock impingements inside the chamber. With the evolution of concept of upstream fuel injection in recent times these may the most appropriate locations for fuel injection. • At higher jet pressure ratios the plasma jet/ramp shock interaction results in a lambda shock pattern with the triple point forming vertically above the cowl level. This means the normal shock stands in front of the inlet making a part of the flow entering the inlet subsonic. The reflected shock from the triple point also separates the ramp boundary layer. • At lower jet pressure ratios the triple point is formed below the cowl level and the flow entering inside the inlet is supersonic. The reflected shock interacts with the cowl shock and a weak separation shock is seen. • Experiments are performed with concentrated DC electric discharge as energy source. Even though the amount of energy dumped here is less than 0.25% of the total energy it creates a perceptible disturbance in the flow. • Experiments are also performed to see the effect of electric discharge as energy source on height of Mach stem for a given inlet configuration. Deposition of energy in the present location does not seem to alter the Mach stem height. However more experiments need to be performed by varying the energy location to see its effect. Non-intrusive energy sources like microwave and lasers can be thought of as options for depositing energy to study its effect on Mach stem height. Since they provide more flexibility on varying the location of energy the optimum location of energy can be found out for highest reduction of Mach stem height.