UNSTEADY SUPERSONIC INLET DIFFUSER FLOWS WITH SINUSOIDAL PRESSURE OSCILLATIONS

Numerical simulations have been conducted to characterize unsteady flow structures in an axisymmetric supersonic inlet diffuser with sinusoidal pressure oscillations at the diffuser exit. The formulation is based on the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations and turbulence closure is achieved using a two-layer model with a too-Reynolds-number scheme for the near-wall treatment. The governing equations are formulated in an integral form, and are discretized by the four-stage Runge-Kutta scheme for temporal terms and the Harten-Yee upwind TVD scheme for convective terms. Results indicated that the inlet shock characteristics are significantly modified by acoustic oscillations originating from the combustor. The characteristics of shock/boundarv-layer interactions (such as the size of separation bubble, terminal shock shape, and vorticity intensity) are also greatly iufluenced by the shock oscillation due to acoustic waves.