Performance of a jaws inlet under off-design conditions

Numerical analysis was conducted of a jaws inlet under different working conditions, including angles of attack of 0° and 3°, varying Mach number, and varying back pressure with a constant-area isolator, to investigate its performance and flow fields of starting and unstarting states. Results reveal that the jaws inlet has an enhanced flow capture capability in starting states, with the mass capture ratio higher than 0.96, but relatively reduced working range of inflow Mach numbers. Its performance at a low Mach number is better than that at a high Mach number. Non-uniform flow fields are observed in unstarting cases at low Mach numbers and high back pressures, while separation structures are confined in the pitching compression section. Further increase in Mach number or decrease in back pressure does not result in significant changes in the separation structures. In the unstarting case under a high back pressure, it is hard to achieve restarting through reductions in the back pressure.