Abstract

The unsteady buzz characteristics of a dorsal supersonic bump inlet for a flying-wing configuration are investigated using wind-tunnel tests and three-dimensional unsteady numerical simulations. This study focuses on off-design operation at a freestream Mach number of 1.8, with particular attention to the effects of angle of attack and downstream throttling on shock motion, pressure oscillation, and inlet stability. Wind-tunnel measurements show that the onset and development of buzz are highly sensitive to angle of attack. At high angles of attack, pressure oscillations first appear near the inlet compression surface and subsequently develop into large-amplitude fluctuations at the aerodynamic interface plane. The dominant experimental buzz frequency is approximately 60–70 Hz, and the numerical prediction of 71 Hz agrees well with the measured dominant frequency of 66 Hz. The simulations further reveal a strongly three-dimensional buzz cycle in which asymmetric separation over the bump, spanwise accumulation and discharge of low-energy flow, and alternating inlet blockage and recovery govern the large-amplitude shock excursion. The oscillatory flow field is dominated by shock–system expulsion and ingestion on the spanwise side with stronger back-pressure tolerance, accompanied by the formation of strong and weak shear layers during different stages of the cycle. These results provide insight into the buzz mechanism of dorsal bump inlets and support the assessment of starting performance and stable operating limits for supersonic inlets integrated with flying-wing configurations.

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