Performance Enhancement of High Speed Inlets using MHD

Abstract : HyPerComp is developing advanced computational tools to model high speed flows with MHD effects. Unstructured, multi-dimensional hypersonic MHD codes have been developed at HyPerComp to study supersonic viscous flows in a self-consistent, fully coupled manner. Effects of thermal, chemical and internal mode dis-equilibrium with and without the presence of electro-magnetic fields have been included in these codes. An existing parallel code environment using generalized mesh structure (prisms, tetrahedra, etc.) developed for Computational Electromagnetics, was adapted to model MHD with (a) Finite rate chemistry of ionizing air, (b) Thermal Non-equilibrium (Distribution of energy across various modes of storage), and (c) Electromagnetic effects. The effect of boundary conditions such as conducting/non-conducting walls, applied or extracted electric power and so forth, render this predictive capability invaluable in the study of MHD accelerators, power generators, turbulence control, and integrated analysis of fluid mechanics and time-varying electromagnetic fields. The subject of inlet flow control for hypersonic vehicles with MHD has attracted attention due to the possibility of flow modifications without the need for moving parts. There are numerous proposed designs to reduce drag, decrease total pressure loss and enhance air mass capture using MHD. Additionally, proposed MHD based concepts can even serve as a source of auxiliary onboard power, and as means to increase thrust produced by nozzles in hypersonic vehicles. The code development activity at HyPerComp has resulted in a high performance toolkit by which these ideas can be tested computationally.