Transonic Inlet Flow Calculations Using a General Grid-Generation Scheme

Abstract

Finite difference solutions for transonic flowfields about engine inlet nacelles are obtained by combining a general grid-generation scheme with a previously developed general solver for transonic potential flowfields (1). The grid-generation scheme is similar to Thompson’s method, but uses simpler equations to solve for the mesh coordinates. An extrapolated relaxation procedure is used to obtain improved convergence of the transonic solution to small residuals. Results obtained for flowfields with embedded supersonic regions both outside and inside the inlets compare well with experimental results.