- This paper focusses on the challenge of determining the ideal inlet geometries within a concept study for variable pitot aero engine inlets in transonic and supersonic civil aviation. The trade-off in inlet design and the geometric parameters of inlets for different Mach numbers are introduced. The utilised process of the parametric design study and its implementation are presented. The dependencies of inlet drag and occurrence of flow separation from geometric parameters are examined. The ideal inlet geometries are identified to determine the potential aerodynamic benefit of using variable pitot inlets. The comparison of the identified geometries with the reference reveals a significant drag reduction at the investigated flight speeds of Mach 0.95, 1.3 and 1.6. While the drag reduction potentially leads to decreased fuel consumption and increased flight range, the application of variable inlet systems entails additional weight and complexity. By means of a simplified Breguet range equation, the benefit of using variable pitot inletsThis paper focusses on the challenge of determining the ideal inlet geometries within a concept study for variable pitot aero engine inlets in transonic and supersonic civil aviation. The trade-off in inlet design and the geometric parameters of inlets for different Mach numbers are introduced. The utilised process of the parametric design study and its implementation are presented. The dependencies of inlet drag and occurrence of flow separation from geometric parameters are examined. The ideal inlet geometries are identified to determine the potential aerodynamic benefit of using variable pitot inlets. The comparison of the identified geometries with the reference reveals a significant drag reduction at the investigated flight speeds of Mach 0.95, 1.3 and 1.6. While the drag reduction potentially leads to decreased fuel consumption and increased flight range, the application of variable inlet systems entails additional weight and complexity. By means of a simplified Breguet range equation, the benefit of using variable pitot inlets has been determined. For an additional weight of 500 kg per variable inlet, the range benefit nearly disappears for subsonic applications up to Mach 0.95, while a range benefit of over 20% remains for supersonic applications at Mach 1.6.…
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