JOURNAL OF PROPULSION AND POWER

Vol. 31, No. 3, May–June 2015

Effects of Boundary-Layer Bleed Parameters

on Supersonic Intake Performance

Mohammad Reza Soltani,∗ Javad Sepahi Younsi,† and Mohammad Farahani‡

Sharif University of Technology, 145888 Tehran, Iran
DOI: 10.2514/1.B35461
The performance and the buzz onset of a supersonic mixed-compression axisymmetric intake are experimentally
investigated. Effects of the slot bleed position, angle, and width on the intake performance and on the buzz initiation at
three different Mach numbers of 1.8, 2.0, and 2.2 and at a zero degree angle of attack are studied. The intake
performance is assessed using the total pressure recovery, mass flow ratio, flow distortion, and bleed mass flow ratio.
The results show that applying the bleed at a position near the intake entrance and reducing the bleed entrance slant
angle and width all improve the intake performance considerably. Moreover, these parameters postpone the buzz
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onset. In addition, it is found that the vertical position of the intersection point of the barrier and normal shocks plays
an important role in the intake pressure recovery.

Nomenclature I. Introduction
area, m2
A
d
h
=
=
=
model maximum diameter, m
bleed entrance width, m
S UPERSONIC intake is the main component of the supersonic
airbreathing engine. It must decelerate the incoming supersonic
flow to a low Mach number at the combustor face. This process
L = tip cone length, m should be accomplished with minimum total pressure loss and in a
L0 = model length, m finite length. However; interaction of shock waves with the boundary
l = bleed entrance position, m layer leads to a thick and in most cases separated boundary layer on
M = Mach number the intake walls. It can cause severe degradation of the intake
m_ = mass flow rate, kg∕s performance and engine thrust loss due to dissipation of the
P = pressure, Pa mechanical energy in the boundary layer. Therefore, boundary-layer
r = radial coordinate, m suction is used as a means to minimize the losses [1].
x = axial coordinate, m There are mainly two types of boundary-layer suction: porous and
α = bleed entrance slant angle, deg slot. The amount of suction depends on the size, position, and angle
β = tip cone angle, deg of holes or slots. It is therefore important to study effects of these
Δ = difference parameters on the intake performance. Many studies have been
ϕ = circumferential direction, deg performed in this regard. However, only several of them have focused
on the shock wave boundary-layer interaction (SWBLI) due to its
Subscripts importance and its relevance to the intake performance. Dolling [2]
reviewed these studies in 2001. Surber and Tinapple [3] also reviewed
Avg = spatial average the inlet flow control based on its application to various airplanes.
c = cowl lip Beside SWBLI studies, many investigations are directly about
e = intake exit effects of the boundary-layer suction on the supersonic intake
i = Intake performance. In some studies, effects of a fixed geometry bleed on the
Max = maximum intake performance have been investigated [4–7]. However, in other
Min = minimum studies, effects of the variation of bleed parameters on the intake
Mod = modified performance have been studied. The effects of the bleed type (flush
s = static condition
slot or ram scoop) [8], bleed location relative to the SWBLI position
t = total condition
[9–12], bleed mass flow rate [9,13,14], bleed backpressure [15–18],
∞ = freestream condition
area of the bleed entrance [10,12,14,15,19], shape of the bleed
entrance [18], bleed entrance slant angle [12,19], and bleed hole
Superscript spacing pattern [19] have been investigated numerically or experi-
 = critical (sonic) conditions mentally on the intake performance in these studies. These studies
have included various intake types such as external compression
[10,14,16]; mixed compression [9,12,15,18]; and a rectangular
[8,10,16], axisymmetric [9,12,13,15,18], and three-dimensional
[16,17] one. In addition, a combination of numerical codes and
optimization algorithms has been proposed to obtain the best bleed
Received 20 May 2014; revision received 24 December 2014; accepted for geometry [20,21]. The bleed was located at the throat section, and
publication 30 December 2014; published online 3 March 2015. Copyright © it improved the intake performance considerably in all of the
2014 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All aforementioned studies.
rights reserved. Copies of this paper may be made for personal or internal use, Recently, effects of boundary-layer suction on the performance
on condition that the copier pay the $10.00 per-copy fee to the Copyright and stability of a mixed-compression intake have been investigated
Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923; include experimentally [22–26]. In these studies, the bleed was located again
the code 1533-3876/15 and $10.00 in correspondence with the CCC. at the throat section of the intake, and effects of position, shape, and
*Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, P.O. Box 11365-8639;
[email protected].
size of the bleed entrance as well as the size of the bleed duct outlet on
†
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Aerospace Engineering, P.O. Box 11365- the pressure recovery, mass flow ratio, and stability of the intake were
8639; [email protected]. investigated.
‡ As seen from the literature review, the bleed was applied at the
Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, P.O. Box
11365-8639; [email protected]. throat to improve the intake performance. However, one can apply the
826
 SOLTANI, YOUNSI, AND FARAHANI 827

boundary layer bleed upstream of the throat over the spike surface to ranges of Mach number, and the flow parameters, such as flow
improve the performance as well as the stability characteristics of the uniformity, flow angularity, and turbulence intensity, were calculated
intake and suppress the buzz phenomenon that is the shock oscillation and were found to be within the acceptable range for this type of wind
ahead of the intake. In the current study, different bleed systems on tunnel [31]. There existed porous bleed holes on both the upper and
the intake cone upstream of the throat have been applied, and the lower walls of the tunnel test section that could stabilize and control
intake performance has been evaluated for all of them. All of the slot wind tunnel shock and other reflected waves. Side wall windows of
bleed parameters including the position, slant angle, and its entrance the test section were made from optical glasses that allowed the
width have been investigated in this study to obtain a complete flow and shock pattern observation by means of schlieren and
viewpoint about this subject. shadowgraph flow visualization systems. The tunnel was of an
Soltani et al. [27–33] conducted an extensive study about indraft one, and therefore the total pressure and total temperature in
performance and stability of a supersonic intake without the bleed the test section were constant and atmospheric. Tests were conducted
both numerically and experimentally, and this investigation intends at three freestream Mach numbers of 1.8, 2.0, and 2.2 and at a zero
to extend this knowledge by studying effects of the boundary-layer degree angle of attack.
bleed on the intake performance and on the buzz onset.
In this study, effects of position, slant angle, and width of the bleed
B. Model
slot on both the performance and the buzz onset of a mixed-
compression intake have been investigated experimentally. The A photo of the intake used in this experiment is shown in Fig. 1a. It
intake has been designed for a freestream Mach number of 2.0. is an axisymmetric mixed-compression intake with a design Mach
number of 2.0 and has an L 0 ∕d of 3.4 (d  100 mm). The intake has
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However, wind tunnel tests have been conducted for freestream Mach
numbers of 1.8, 2.0, and 2.2 and at a zero degree angle of attack. At a semicone angle of 16 deg and a cowl lip diameter of 69 mm, and the
every test, several backpressures have been imposed at the intake maximum diameter of the spike is 35 mm. The intake contraction
outlet to further study the design and off-design operating conditions. ratio defined as the ratio of the initial cross-sectional area of the
captured stream tube to the throat area was 1.4, and the first starting
Mach number of the intake was about 2.0. The high contraction ratio
II. Experimental Setup that resulted in a small throat area caused formation of a relatively
A. Wind Tunnel weak normal shock inside the intake, and consequently total pressure
All tests were conducted in a continuous suction type wind tunnel loss reduced [34]. The model was installed using a C type mechanism
with a rectangular test section of 60 × 60 cm3 [34]. The turbulence at the midsection of the wind tunnel as shown in Fig. 1a. The spike tip
intensity of the flow in the test section ranged from 0.4 to 1.4%, cone could be replaced in order to investigate the effects of bleed
depending on the freestream Mach number. The Reynolds number in parameters, Fig. 1b. Eight tip cones were used in this study to
the test section could be varied from 6.37 × 106 to 7 × 107 per meter investigate effects of the slot bleed position, slant angle, and width on
[30]. The wind tunnel was trisonic, 0.4 ≤ M∞ ≤ 3.0, and the the intake performance and on the buzz onset. The schematic view
freestream Mach number was controlled by a variable nozzle and by and specifications of these cones are shown in Fig. 2 and Table 1,
throttling the engine. The flow angle in the test section at a freestream respectively. For all cones, β  16 deg, and L∕L 0 was 0.14. As seen
Mach number of 2.0, design Mach number, was about 0.5 deg. A pitot from Table 1, there was a cone without bleed that was named the no-
tube was used to measure the freestream Mach number with a bleed cone, and there was a cone with base bleed parameters that was
maximum error of 0.8%. The wind tunnel was calibrated for the named the base bleed cone. The base bleed cone was used as a

Fig. 1 Photo and schematic view of the intake: a) intake model in the wind tunnel, b) pressure taps and bleed slot, and c) and d) schematic of the intake
model and its instruments [34].
 828 SOLTANI, YOUNSI, AND FARAHANI
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Fig. 2 Parameters of typical tip cone and schematic views and photos of various tip cones that were tested in this study.

reference one for variation of the bleed parameters. Pictures of all at a zero degree angle of attack. At the beginning of each test, the plug
cones tested in this experiment are shown in Fig. 2. The boundary- was in its most downstream position that resulted in the maximum
layer suction was carried out by the natural pressure difference exit area and corresponded to the supercritical operating condition.
between the entrance and the exit sections of the bleed duct. The plug was then moved forward, and the exit area was reduced to
A conical plug was located at the end of the model to vary the exit obtain other operating conditions. For every freestream Mach
area of the intake during the tests. The plug was moved along the number and tip cone, eight different exit areas were adjusted during
intake centerbody using a small dc motor and a ball screw, Fig. 1c. each test, and the data for all pressure ports were simultaneously
The intake mass flow rate as well as the backpressure were controlled collected. All data were acquired at a frequency of 2.8 kHz for 2 s at
through changing the intake exit area. Note that the backpressure every plug position. Signal processing of the steady-state cases
determined the normal shock position at which design and off-design showed that the data acquisition time, 2 s, was sufficient to get the
conditions of the intake could be realized [34]. steady-state condition for all cases. In addition, the sampling
frequency was sufficient to capture the buzz frequency. A shadow-
C. Test Procedure and Location of Sensors graph flow visualization system and a camera, AOS X-PRI, with a
maximum frame rate of 1000 frames∕s and with image dimensions
For every tip cone, the intake was tested for three different of 800 × 600 pixels were used for all test cases at the same time.
freestream Mach numbers: 1.8, 2.0, and 2.2. All tests were carried out To evaluate the intake performance, 62 sensitive pressure
transducers were used during each test to measure static and total
Table 1 Tip cone specifications pressures on the model and on the wind tunnel walls [34]. These data
were used to compute the performance parameters of the intake.
Number Cone name l∕L h∕L α, deg Several pressure taps were located at different positions of the spike
1 No bleed — — — — — — surface to measure the static pressure distribution. Two multiprobe
2 Forward bleed 0.453 0.114 90 rakes, throat rake (TR) and main rake (MR) as shown schematically
3 Base bleed 0.649 0.114 90 in Fig. 1d, were located at the throat (x∕d  0.8 and ϕ  270 deg)
4 Aft bleed 0.844 0.114 90 and at the exit (x∕d  2.4 and ϕ  90 deg) sections of the intake.
5 60 deg bleed 0.649 0.114 60 The TR had 12 probes and was used to measure the boundary-layer
6 45 deg bleed 0.649 0.114 45
7 Narrow bleed 0.649 0.086 90
profile at the throat section. The MR had 17 probes and was used to
8 Narrowest bleed 0.649 0.057 90 measure the boundary-layer profile, intake total pressure recovery,
mass flow rate, and flow distortion at the exit face of the model. The
 SOLTANI, YOUNSI, AND FARAHANI 829

probe diameter and distance between the probes for the TR were 0.9 Table 2 Measurement inaccuracies [36]
and 2.0 mm, respectively. However, probe diameter and distance
Quantity Inaccuracy (%)
between the probes were 1.0 and 2.0 mm for the main rake. Two
single-probe rakes (PR1 and PR2) were located at x∕d  1.4 and ΔP∕P 0.929, 1.421
ΔTPR∕TPR 1.421
ϕ  0 deg and at x∕d  1.8 and ϕ  180 deg, respectively, for ΔFD∕FD 2.461
total pressure losses measurement, Fig. 1d. Furthermore, static and ΔBMFR∕BMFR 2.044
total pressures of the bleed duct were measured at the duct exit to M∞  1.8 M∞  2.0 M∞  2.2
compute the bleed mass flow rate and Mach number. ΔMFR∕MFR 2.455 2.418 2.304
ΔM∞ ∕M∞ 1.458 1.162 0.918

III. Performance Parameters

The performance parameters that were assessed experimentally in flow rate to the intake mass flow rate. The bleed mass flow rate is
this study were total pressure recovery (TPR), mass flow ratio (MFR), calculated using a static pressure tap and a total pressure probe
and flow distortion (FD). TPR is defined as the ratio of the total inserted at the bleed duct. The inaccuracies of the performance
pressure at the intake exit face to that of the freestream: parameters and a few other measured parameters are given in Table 2
[36]. Two values have been reported for the static pressure since two
Pte different types of pressure transducers were used in this investigation.
TPR  (1)
Pt∞ To highlight effects of the bleed application relative to the no-bleed
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condition and for comparing various cones, a modified performance

The intake exit total pressure, Pte , is calculated by the area weighted parameter is defined using the relation
averaging of the main rake total pressures [35]. Freestream total
pressure, Pt∞ , is calculated by the total pressure of the pitot tube ξWith Bleed − ξNo Bleed
installed on the wind tunnel wall. ξMod  × 100 (4)
ξNo Bleed
MFR is defined as the ratio of the actual intake mass flow rate to the
maximum mass flow rate that the intake can capture [33]. Using the where ξ can be the TPR, MFR, or FD. Referring to derivation of
notation of Fig. 3, Eq. (2) in [26,35], it is seen that the MFR is directly proportional to
the TPR, and therefore MFRMod vs EBR has the same graph as
m_i A TPRMod vs EBR for every freestream Mach number and will be
MFR   i (2)
_ ∞ A∞
m neglected in this study. However, variation of the MFR can be studied
from the intake performance curve.
The flow at the end of the intake over the plug was choked, and the A supersonic intake is usually designed for the critical condition.
intake mass flow rate is calculated at this location using the main rake At this condition, the normal shock is placed at the intake throat or
data. The detailed description of the MFR calculation method via close to it, Fig. 4b. The intake operation condition may also be
total pressure data of the main rake can be found in [26,35]. It is subcritical or supercritical. The normal shock is placed upstream of
desired for an intake to have the maximum possible values of TPR the throat in the subcritical condition, Fig. 4c, whereas for the
and MFR. supercritical operating case, it is located downstream of the
The intake FD represents the flow uniformity at the intake exit throat, Fig. 4a.
face, and it must be as low as possible for a complete combustion Figure 4 further shows the predicted performance for the operating
process. At a zero degree angle of attack, the steady-state radial conditions. When the exit backpressure was low, a relatively
distortion is calculated using the total pressure profile of the main strong normal shock wave was placed downstream of the throat
rake as (supercritical condition) that resulted in a low TPR. In this condition,
the intake MFR was approximately constant. When the backpressure
Pt Max − Pt Min was increased, the normal shock weakened and moved upstream and
FD  (3)
Pt Avg stood near the throat (critical condition), Fig. 4b. With a further
increase of the backpressure, the normal shock moved outside the
Another ratio, exit blockage ratio (EBR), is defined to include effects intake (subcritical condition), and the intake MFR decreased.
of the plug movement (exit area variation). This parameter is defined In the subcritical operating conditions for the external and mixed-
as the ratio of the exit duct height blocked by the plug to the total compression intakes when the intake mass flow rate decreased and
height of the exit duct. Thus, when the EBR was 100%, the exit area reached a specific value, all shocks formed ahead of the intake began
of the intake was completely closed, and when it was 0%, it means to oscillate. This phenomenon is called buzz [37]. There exist two
that the exit area was fully open. Eight values for the EBR, 55.0, 60.0, criteria for the buzz onset. The Ferri criterion [38] says that
62.5, 65.0, 67.5, 70.0, 75.0, and 80.0%, were tested at each interaction of the cowl lower surface boundary layer with a vortex
freestream Mach number and tip cone. In addition, to account for the sheet issued from the intersection point of oblique and normal shocks
effects of the bleed mass flow rate in the intake performance, the is the buzz-triggering mechanism (little buzz). The Dailey [39]
bleed mass flow rate (BMFR) is defined as the ratio of the bleed mass criterion says that flow separation caused by the SWBLI on the
spike surface is responsible for the buzz onset (big buzz). Intake
performance investigation is always associated with stability issues.
Variations of the boundary-layer bleed parameters also have direct
effects on the intake stability. For cases with the buzz fluctuations,
time-averaged values of the measured pressures are used to calculate
the intake performance and pressure distributions. Performance
investigation of this intake showed that the critical operating
condition was obtained at EBR ≈ 65.0% [34] with and without
the bleed.

IV. Results and Discussions

A. Bleed Position Study
The effects of the bleed entrance position on the intake TPR for the
Fig. 3 The flow areas used in the MFR definition [33]. design Mach number, M∞  2.0, are shown in Fig. 5. As seen, the
 830 SOLTANI, YOUNSI, AND FARAHANI

Fig. 4 Intake performance curve and its operating conditions [34].

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bleed had more effect in the subcritical operating situations, bleed for this cone. For example, shadowgraph pictures of various tip
EBR 65.0%, as compared with critical and supercritical conditions. cones are shown for EBR  67.5% and for M∞  2.0 at the top
At subcritical conditions, the normal shock wave stood outside the section of Fig. 6. In addition, for the forward bleed location with
intake in the vicinity of the bleed entrance. Therefore, effectiveness of EBR  80% and M∞  2.0, from Fig. 6, it is clearly seen that the
the boundary-layer bleed in preventing flow separation and reducing shock wave was positioned in the vicinity of the bleed position. As a
total pressure losses was increased for these conditions. Figure 5 result of this phenomenon, the shock wave was located near the bleed
further shows that aft bleed resulted in a more TPR. Shadowgraph position, and hence it increased the effectiveness of the bleed for
pictures show that the intake shocks were closer to the bleed entrance EBR > 75% according to Fig. 5. However, once the shock wave
for the aft bleed cone, which again increased the effectiveness of the stood far from the bleed position, as seen from Fig. 6 for the aft bleed
case, the TPRMod value for EBR > 75% decreased as seen from
Fig. 5. All cases shown in Fig. 6 are associated with the buzz
fluctuations, and the shock positions shown in this figure are for the
midtime of the buzz cycle period.
Figure 5 further shows that in the subcritical operating condition,
EBR > 65.0%, with base bleed and aft bleed cones as EBR increased
the TPRMod was also increased until the shock stood far from the
bleed entrance, and TPRMod was decreased as described previously.
With no bleed cone in the subcritical condition, as EBR increased,
the normal shock was moved forward due to the increase of
backpressure. This strengthened the normal shock, and thus the TPR
was decreased. However, when the bleed was applied, as the EBR
increased and the shock wave was moved forward in the subcritical
condition, the shock stood closer to the bleed entrance. This increased
the effectiveness of the bleed and reduced the boundary-layer
thickness as well as the total pressure losses. Therefore, when the
EBR increased, the TPR of the no-bleed cone decreased, and
simultaneously the TPR for other bleed cones increased, and
according to the definition of TPRMod , it increased significantly as
Fig. 5 Effects of bleed position on TPR for design Mach number, seen from Fig. 5. As mentioned before, a further increase of the EBR
M∞  2.0. caused the normal shock to be formed in a position far from the bleed

Fig. 6 Shadowgraph pictures of the intake for various bleed locations at M∞  2.0.
 SOLTANI, YOUNSI, AND FARAHANI 831

entrance that reduced the bleed effectiveness. Thus, the flow application did not delay the buzz onset altogether, shadowgraph
condition approached the no-bleed case, and TPRMod was decreased. pictures show that the amplitude and frequency of the buzz
The performance curve of the intake for various bleed locations oscillations reduced considerably when the bleed was applied.
and for the no-bleed cone are presented in Fig. 7. Each point in this Figure 7 shows that the aft bleed had more TPR in the subcritical
figure is for a certain value of the EBR. Hence, every curve has eight operating condition, EBR 65.0%, as compared with other bleed
points; the last right point is for EBR  55.0%, and the first point is positions (the subcritical portion of the performance curve can be
for EBR  80.0%. EBRs with the buzz fluctuations are presented seen from Fig. 4). In addition, applying the bleed in this position
with filled symbols in this figure. Buzz initiation is recognized by the changed the shape of the performance curve and resulted in the
shadowgraph pictures and spectra of the pressure signals. Spectra of intake operation with a maximum pressure recovery in most of the
the signals have been computed using the fast Fourier transform subcritical condition regime. In the aft bleed cone, the bleed was
(FFT) algorithm. Although this figure shows that the bleed applied in a location where the normal shock stood near it in most
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Fig. 7 Performance curve of the intake for various bleed positions. Fig. 8 Effects of bleed position on BMFR.
 832 SOLTANI, YOUNSI, AND FARAHANI

According to the findings of this research, it is seen that it is

important in the design process of the bleed system to predict the
intake shock location and make sure that the bleed entrance is located
near the shock position. This increases the effectiveness of the
boundary-layer suction in preventing the flow separation, which in
turn reduces the total pressure losses as well as the flow
nonuniformities. However, because the intake may encounter
different off-design conditions and therefore the normal shock stands
at various locations, it is proposed that the bleed be applied in
different locations of the compression surface to assure high
performance for the intake in most off-design conditions. In addition,
it is seen that the aft position of the bleed results in a better
performance for the current intake because this location is closer to
the shock position and it lies downstream of the shock waves in
more cases.

B. Bleed Slant Angle Study

Fig. 9 Effects of bleed slant angle on TPR for design Mach number,
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Effects of the bleed entrance slant angle on the TPR of the intake
M∞  2.0. are shown in Fig. 9 for the design Mach number, M∞  2.0.
According to this figure, for most EBRs, the value of the TPRMod is
EBRs of subcritical condition, EBR 65.0%. In addition, the bleed positive. Therefore, the bleed has increased the pressure recovery of
entrance lay downstream of the normal shock in a higher number the intake considerably. Besides preventing the flow separation and
of EBRs with the aft bleed cone as compared with other cones. reducing the boundary-layer thickness by the bleed, another reason
Consequently, the aft bleed tip cone was more successful in sucking for TPR increment with bleed is formation of the barrier shock
the boundary layer and resulted in a better performance. When the [40,41] at the bleed entrance. This shock can be seen from the
bleed location was moved upstream in the base bleed and forward shadowgraph pictures of Fig. 10. Note that for the no-bleed case the
bleed cones, the intake performance degraded as seen from Fig. 7. barrier shock did not exist. This shock was formed due to the
compression of the flow after it turned toward the bleed duct. A
Effects of the bleed position on the BMFR are illustrated in Fig. 8.
detailed description of the flowfield around the bleed entrance can be
As seen from this figure for all freestream Mach numbers examined
found in [40,41]. The barrier shock at the bleed entrance obviously
here, increasing the EBR increased the mass flow rate through the
reduced Mach number of the flow behind it. Consequently, the
bleed duct. As the EBR and consequently backpressure increased, the
strength of the subsequent normal shock and total pressure losses
normal shock moved forward, and it became also stronger because it
across it were reduced, and TPR increased. It must be mentioned that
stood in a position far from the throat. When the normal shock stood
the main factor for the total pressure loss among the intake shock
at the throat section, critical condition, it was in its weakest situation,
system was the normal shock, and any mean that reduced the strength
and according to the intake performance curve, Fig. 4, the intake
of the normal shock improved the intake pressure recovery.
had maximum pressure recovery. However, when the EBR and
Figure 9 further shows that the pressure recovery of the intake was
backpressure were increased, the normal shock wave was pushed
increased when the bleed slant angle was reduced from 90 deg.
outside the intake, and the subcritical condition was obtained. At this
According to Fig. 10, the barrier shock was stronger for the 45 deg
condition, the normal shock was strengthened, and as seen from
bleed cone. Consequently, the subsequent normal shock for this cone
Fig. 4, pressure recovery of the intake was decreased. The interaction was weaker as compared with the 90 deg bleed cone that reduced the
of the normal shock with the boundary layer thickened the boundary total pressure loss as described previously and increased the TPR.
layer of the compression surface, which increased the bleed mass Investigation of the shadowgraph pictures reveals that when EBR
flow rate. was increased from 75.0 to 80.0%, big buzz was started for the 45 deg
Aft bleeding resulted in a higher mass flow rate through the bleed bleed cone, while 60 and 90 deg bleed cones had little buzz. As
duct due to the close distance between the intake shocks and the bleed mentioned previously from Fig. 8, starting the big buzz was the
entrance in this case and because the bleed entrance lay downstream reason for the sudden decrease of TPR for the 45 deg bleed cone as
of the normal shock for most EBRs. A sudden increase of the BMFR seen from Fig. 9.
with the aft bleed cone at EBR  80.0% was due to the large Total pressure profiles of cones with various bleed slant angles and
amplitude oscillation of the intake shocks during the big buzz that with the no-bleed cone at M∞  1.8 and at EBR  75% are shown
started at this EBR. During the big buzz, the normal shock reached the in Fig. 11. According to this figure, while the minimum total pressure
spike tip as seen from the shadowgraph pictures. In this situation, a that occurred near the lower wall was identical for all bleed slant
large flow separation was formed downstream of the normal shock angles, as the bleed slant angle was decreased, the total pressure of the
and aft bleed could absorb it to some extent. Therefore, the BMFR core of the flow was seen to increase. This resulted in the increase of
was increased suddenly as the big buzz was started. In addition, the flow distortion according to Eq. (3). In fact, as the bleed slant angle
main reason for the sudden decrease of the TPR at this EBR as seen was reduced, the total pressure was seen to increase nonuniformly
from Fig. 7 was also starting the big buzz. In this condition, the intake (more of the increment was at the core of the flow), Fig. 11.
with base bleed and with forward bleed cones had little buzz with The total pressure profile obtained from the throat rake for M∞ 
small amplitude oscillations. 2.2 and EBR  70% are shown in Fig. 12a, which demonstrates a

Fig. 10 Shadowgraph pictures ahead of the intake for M∞  2.0 and EBR  55% that show formation of the barrier shock due to the bleed entrance.
 SOLTANI, YOUNSI, AND FARAHANI 833

Fig. 11 Total pressure profiles of the main rake at M∞  1.8 and

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EBR  75%.

Fig. 13 Performance curves of the intake for various bleed slant angles.
Fig. 12 Total pressure profiles at the throat and main rakes at M∞ 
2.2 and EBR  70% for various bleed slant angles.
Fig. 12b, it is seen that the differences between Pt;Max and Pt;Min for
all cases were minimal, which indicates low flow distortion (better
more uniform profile for the 45 deg bleed cone in comparison with uniform flow). This is due to mixing of flow that reduced the
the other cones. This is due to the stronger barrier shock that resulted nonuniformities. As a result, it could be concluded that to obtain a low
in a weaker normal shock for this cone. A weaker normal shock FD the intake must be as long as possible.
caused smaller interaction between the normal shock and boundary The intake performance curves for 45 and 60 deg bleeds along with
layer. In addition, Fig. 12a shows that there was slight flow separation the base one, 90 deg bleed, as well as the no-bleed cone at three
over the spike. Further, from this figure, it is seen that generally Pt different freestream Mach numbers are illustrated in Fig. 13. At
varied a lot, and the differences between Pt;Max and Pt;Min were M∞  1.8 for the subcritical condition, as EBR increased, the
relatively large, which increased the flow distortion at the throat. normal shock moved upstream, and the amount of the flow spillage
However, for the main rake located near the end of the intake, around the cowl lip increased. Therefore, the MFR decreased as seen
 834 SOLTANI, YOUNSI, AND FARAHANI

Fig. 15 Effects of the bleed entrance width on TPR for design Mach
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number, M∞  2.0.

80.0% and M∞  2.2 as well as for the 60 deg bleed cone at

EBR  80.0% and M∞  2.2, Fig. 14, is due to starting the big buzz
that is associated with large flow separation over the spike surface.
According to the results of this section, it is seen that when the
bleed as applied particularly with a slant angle lower than 90 deg
considerable improvement in the supersonic intake performance was
achieved, Figs. 9 and 13. Figure 14 clearly verifies that this
improvement was achieved through a very small bleed mass flow
rate, and the BMFR seems not to have exceeded 0.025 at all. Further,
it should be noted that the boundary-layer suction in this study was
applied without using any artificial means such as suction pump.

C. Bleed Entrance Width Study

In this section, effects of the bleed entrance width h, shown in
Fig. 2, are studied using the narrowest, narrow, and base (wide) bleed
cones. In all of these cones, the bleed entrance center (bleed position)
was constant. The behaviors that were identical with those mentioned
in the previous sections will not be discussed in this section.
The modified total pressure recovery of the intake for various bleed
entrance widths is shown in Fig. 15 for the design Mach number,
M∞  2.0. As seen from this figure, the intake with the narrow and
narrowest bleed cones had more TPR as compared with the base
(wide) bleed cone. To find the reason for this behavior, the flowfield

Fig. 14 Effects of the bleed slant angle on BMFR.

from Fig. 13a. In addition, the normal shock stood closer to the bleed
entrance in this condition, and consequently it led to the increase of
TPR for cones with bleed due to the increase of the bleed
effectiveness. Figure 13 further shows that 45 and 60 deg bleed cones
had more TPR and MFR as compared with the normal bleed case
described previously, although they had early buzz onset and
consequently a smaller stability margin (especially for the design
Mach number of 2.0).
Effects of the bleed slant angle on the BMFR are presented in
Fig. 14. According to this figure, as the bleed slant angle was reduced,
the BMFR increased, and the rate of increase for M∞  1.8 was
larger than that of the other Mach numbers. This is due to the better
alignment of the bleed entrance side walls with the incoming flow.
Similarly to Fig. 8, a sudden increase of the BMFR for the 45 deg Fig. 16 Static pressure distribution over the spike tip cone and
bleed cone at EBR  80.0% and M∞  2.0 and at EBR  75.0 and schematic view of the intake for M∞  2.0 and EBR  55.0%.
 SOLTANI, YOUNSI, AND FARAHANI 835

Fig. 18 Effects of the bleed entrance width on BMFR for the design
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Mach number, M∞  2.0.

there was a constant minimum total pressure near the lower wall. As a
result, FDMod increased for this freestream Mach number.
Figure 17 shows the performance curves of the intake for various
bleed entrance widths. As the width was decreased, the intake MFR
and TPR both increased considerably. However, at the design Mach
number of 2.0, the intake with the base (wide) bleed had a larger
stability margin as compared with the narrowest and narrow bleed
cones because the buzz onset was postponed as seen from Fig. 17.
One reason for the increase of MFR when the bleed entrance width
was decreased was the reduction of the bleed mass flow rate.
Figure 18 shows variations of the BMFR for various bleed entrance
widths. It is seen from this figure that as the bleed width was
decreased the BMFR reduced. Similarly to previous cases, the reason
for the sudden increase of the BMFR for the narrowest bleed cone at
EBR  80.0% is the large amplitude oscillations of the normal shock
upstream of the bleed entrance during the big buzz, which is seen
from the shadowgraph pictures.
As seen from this section, better performance of the intake was not
obtained necessarily by the wide bleed entrance. For any intake
geometry and flow conditions, the suitable entrance width that
guarantees high performance as well as the large stable flow margin
for the intake must be investigated using the experimental or
numerical studies.

V. Conclusions
The performance as well as the buzz onset of a supersonic mixed-
compression intake were experimentally investigated using the
shadowgraph pictures and static and total pressure measurements.
Effects of the slot bleed entrance position, its angle, and its width on
the intake performance were further studied using eight replaceable
cones attached at the spike tip. The intake was designed for
M∞  2.0; however, all cones were tested at M∞  1.8, 2.0, and 2.2
and at a zero degree angle of attack. Effects of the aforementioned
bleed parameters were investigated on the intake total pressure
recovery, mass flow ratio, flow distortion, and bleed mass flow ratio
Fig. 17 Performance curves of the intake for various bleed entrance as the performance parameters. Results showed that applying the
widths. bleed upstream of the throat section can considerably improve
the intake performance and reduce the amplitude and frequency of the
buzz fluctuations. However, the effectiveness of the bleed is reduced
at the bleed entrance must be explored because the only difference when it is applied at a position far from the shock wave location.
between the cones was their width. Static pressure distribution over Because of the different bleed locations depending on the off-design
the spike around the bleed entrance is shown in Fig. 16. As seen when conditions, applying the bleed in various locations over the spike
the bleed entrance width was reduced, the pressure jump across the surface is proposed. Using the bleed at the intake entrance is more
barrier shock, the pressure difference between sensors S7 and S5, was effective because it lies downstream of the shock waves for most
increased, which means the barrier shock was strengthened. conditions. Reducing the bleed entrance slant angle from 90 deg
Therefore, as mentioned previously, the strength of the subsequent strengthens the barrier shock and improves the intake performance.
normal shock was reduced, and as a result, the pressure recovery of However, it also precipitates the buzz onset and increases the bleed
the intake was increased. mass flow rate. Selecting a wide entrance for the bleed results in the
Similarly to Fig. 11, at M∞  1.8, as the bleed entrance width performance degradation and also increases the bleed mass flow rate.
decreased, the total pressure of the core of the flow increased, while However, a very narrow bleed entrance may initiate the big buzz that
 836 SOLTANI, YOUNSI, AND FARAHANI

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