Numerical Study on the Performance of Scramjet Isolator

As one of the most promising propulsive systems in the future, the scramjet engine has drawn the attention of many researches. Detailed flow features concerned with the isolator play an important role in the scramjet system. The 2D numerical method has been used for the inlet-isolator with wind tunnel. In order to validate the ability of the numerical model, numerical results are compared with the experimental results. Overall pressure distributions show quite good match with the experimental results. Different back pressures have been researched for maximum pressure rising. According to the results, pressure profiles of inlet section are exactly the same in different back pressures, and the shock train is pushed toward the isolator entrance as the back pressure increases. The maximum back pressure without inlet unstart goes up rapidly and then keep constant when the isolator length increases. The optimal isolator length (L/H th ) is 8.7 in this model.