Design and experimental study of a practical Osculating Inward Cone Waverider Inlet

A design method based on tip to tail streamline tracing and osculating inward cone methods is discussed for designing the integrated Osculating Inward Cone Waverider Inlet (OICWI). A practical geometrical constrained experimental model of OICWI is designed based on the validated design method. It has a total contraction ratio of 4.61 and inner contraction ratio is 2.0. Wind-tunnel tests have been conducted for the OICWI model at free stream Mach number (Ma∞) of 4.0, 3.5 and 3.0 respectively. The experimental results show that the OICWI has high flow capture ratio and compression abilities. It can self-start at Ma∞ = 3.5 and 4.0 and its flow capture ratio is 0.73 at Ma∞ = 4.0, and Angle of Attack (AOA) 0°. The research results show that the OICWI has advantages of inward cone waverider and streamline tracing inlet. Present OICWI is a novel approach for waverider inlet integration studies and it will promote the use of waverider inlet integration configuration in the studies of airbreathing hypersonic vehicles.